Total Pokemon: Underdogs
by Dark Arcanine 33
Summary: Oh god, they're back AGAIN! This time, 44 Total Pokemon underdogs have been brought back for a chance at 5 MILLION POKE! What will happen this time? Find out here! (Season 6)
1. Yep, They're Back Again

**Yeah, I have a problem…but-**

 **IT'S BACK, BITCHES!  
**

 **000**

Mew was snoozing in his room with the television still on, shining lights on different colors on his sleeping form. He had been doing perfectly fine in the hall ever since Parafrosyni Island ended. Sure, he still had issues thanks to Victini, but he was still doing pretty well.

At the moment, as he lied in his black jawbreaker colored bed, nothing was on his mind but rest. However, all good things had to come to an end.

His door was kicked open by a small pale yellow foot and our favorite jackass fox floated in with a neutral expression. The sound of his door being kicked open, caused his eyes to pop open, waking him. He didn't move from his position and just groaned.

"Whoever the hell you are, go away!" he exclaimed.

"No," Victini replied, floating up to the cat's bed. "We have work to do. Arceus and Giratina told me that we can have another season."

"What?!" Mew exclaimed when he suddenly felt his tail be grabbed. "NO! They said that we had enough!"

"Come on lazybones," Victini said as he dragged Mew out of his bed, all the while the New Species Pokemon protested against it.

 **-000-**

Victini dragged Mew, who had just stopped fighting and held a look of agitation, to the legendary couple's main room. It was 1:36 in the morning and also one of the few times Arceus and Giratina got to sleep, as they were always kept up by the ruckus caused by the other legendaries, as well as private business that they had to attend to outside of the hall.

The Renegade Pokemon, in his Origin Forme, had himself coiled around the Alpha Pokemon's body, bringing her close and under his chin.

Their door, which was usually locked, swung open and hit the wall of their room, which didn't make them move in the slightest. Victini drug Mew inside before releasing his tail and seeing that the alpha couple was still asleep. He groaned.

"The one time they decide to sleep!" he growled.

"Oh well, looks like we have no new season after all," Mew said, floating up and dusting himself off. "I'm going back to bed."

He teleported away, only for Victini to bring him right back and grab his tail, which didn't really hinder anything, as Mew still teleported away. Victini brought him back once again, making Mew groan in vexation.

"WAKE UP!" Victini exclaimed, which didn't make them move in the slightest; the couple continued snoozing.

"Can't you see that nothing's working?" Mew questioned, his arms folded. "You know that when they sleep, only they can wake themselves up. So, again, I'm gonna go back to bed."

As he floated out of the room, Victini groaned in annoyance. Sure, it was early the morning, but if he was awake, why couldn't they be?! They were the head honchos of the hall, after all.

He groaned and, despite his eagerness, decided to wait until they were actually awake. He turned on their television and sat on their enormous, memory foam bed.

And, despite them usually being in a deep slumber, as soon as their television was turned on and the light shined on them, Giratina grew irritated and shuffled a bit, seeing the light through closed eyes, and Arceus moaned in discomfort at the light as well.

Giratina, knowing that their remote was at the foot of the bed, uncoiled himself slightly from around Arceus' waist and moved his tail toward the end of the bed, but instead of feeling the remote, he felt a body instead.

Victini floated up with a sneer after feeling the ghost dragon's tail, and turned the brightness of the TV up a bit, eventually causing both of them to groan. He suddenly heard Arceus' voice and floated toward her.

"Who the hell is here?" she asked exhaustedly with an agitatedl tone as Giratina coiled back up around her.

"It's Victini…" he replied confidently.

Giratina groaned upon hearing that, bringing his face closer to Arceus'. "What do you want? We're trying to sleep."

"It's about my and Mew's series. You know? The one that's actually progressing?" Victini questioned.

"Get on with it…" Giratina groaned, annoyed by the fox's pretentiousness.

"So, what do we have to do for it?" asked Victini. "We need another island since Parafrosyni is now 'uninhabitable'."

"Ugh," Arceus groaned. "We don't care. There's another one near the pseudo-legendaries' island; go to that one. Now get the hell out…"

"Okay, so what-"

"GET OUT!" they both exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, jeez…" Victini said, as he put the remote on the table that was on Arceus' side of the bed, which she wasn't facing. "I'm leaving."

"Hey! Turn the fucking TV off!" Giratina exclaimed, lifting his head up slightly.

They got no response, which made them both groan.

 **-000-**

Victini had gone into the second Boys' Club to use one of the computer. He searched the island Arceus was talking about and smirked to himself upon seeing how large it was compared to the other ones around it, especially the Tyranitar's and Dragonite's. He peered at a list of names and numbers next to the computer and immediately started calling.

 **000**

It was now 3 in the morning, and Mew was back asleep in his bed. However, that wasn't going to last long.

Victini kicked open his door yet again and Mew's eyes popped open.

"Time for the show!" Victini cheered as he grabbed Mew by the tail and started dragging him out again.

"Oh come on! I don't even care about the show anymore! I just wanna relax!" he protested while being dragged out.

 **000**

A shot of an enormous island was seen with other smaller ones in the distance. The island seemed to have underwater volcanoes surrounding it, as well as a larger volcano on the land. There was a normal mountain to the side of it, and a cliff near the beach. It was pretty similar to their first island overall, but with some changes in where certain areas and aspects were located.

"We're back Total Pokemon fans!" Victini greeted, floating on a dock. "You thought that we were done at Parafrosyni, but you were wrong!"

"...Yeah…" Mew said unenthusiastically. "I really just wanna go back to the hall and chill…"

"No one cares," Victini exclaimed. "I'm sure that you don't want our poor competitors dealing with just me, right?"

After a while, Victini's eyes widened. "Actually, that doesn't sound too bad. Feel free to-"

"No, no, no...I'm here now, so don't even try it," said Mew. "Plus, you're always the one to abandon the show, not me. So, I'm ready for it to happen again."

Victini rolled his eyes. "Not gonna happen this time around."

"Sure," Mew said, rolling his eyes, not believing him. "So, what the hell is this season about anyway? Did you bring in more newbies?"

"Nope," Victini said, looking back at the camera. "This season, we're bringing back FORTY-FOUR Total Pokemon Underdogs for another chance at the prize money. 5 million Poke!"

"Y-You were fucking serious about the uninteresting competitors thing?!" Mew exclaimed, shocked.

"Yep," Victini replied proudly. "So, you might as well get ready because here they come now!"

A similar tiltrotor from the first episode of All-Stars appeared. Actually, it _was_ the same one from All-Stars!

"From PARAFROSYNI Island, welcome back Ace!"

Zahku held the Sylveon by his ribbons before dropping him from the aircraft.

"The second worst villain ever behind Vladimir...Brian!"

"Evil does not conSEEEEEEEENT!" the Reuniclus started before being punched out of the aircraft.

"Clumsy fool Chlotz!"

"Hey, I've learned how to walk with these dumb feet a bit bet-AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chlotz started before tripping out of the craft on his own.

Victini laughed. "Still funny. Next, girly-boy Taylor!"

"Oh, go fuck yoursELLLLLLLLVES!" Taylor yelled as he was dropped from the tiltrotor.

"Conspiracy nut, Pia!"

"This is highly illogical and doesn't make any SEEEENSE!" the, now Hypno, yelled as she was dropped.

"And...yaoi lover, Macey!"

Zahku didn't even bother touching her as the Gourgeist floated out of the tiltrotor with a journal and a camera, a smile plastered on her face.

Mew shuddered. "You _seriously_ brought _her_ back?!" he whispered through grit teeth. "I _thought you said uninteresting!_ "

"Well, it's a combination of them, some people that I wanted back, and some who should have been in All-Stars to begin with," Victini explained. "Anyways-"

"WHAT?!"

"From REVENGE of the Island. We have Ashton!"

The Meganium looked out of the aircraft before jumping out with a scream.

"Shy Amy, or Amethyst!"

Amethyst was clinging to Zahku as he tried to throw the Amaura into the water, eventually getting her off of him.

"Dumb bell Carson!"

"Hey, that's mean!" Carson exclaimed as he floated out.

"Rich bitch Aspen!"

"This is so STUPID!" Aspen, whose fur had grown back, shouted as Zahku kicked her out.

"And...Holly!"

The Swoobat flew out of the aircraft before Zahku even got a chance to grab her.

"That's just eleven. So you all know that this season is gonna be all about the originals who were just downright...blah!" Victini announced.

"Or you just made them come..." Mew said, giving him a look.

"Yep!" Victini said happily as the others who had to jump in the water first, swam to the shore. "So, from out original cast, welcome back...Annie!"

The Bellossom looked down at the water before sighing and jumping out just as Zahku was about to kick her. This caused him to trip up and almost fall out of the aircraft himself.

"Anthony!"

A Blastoise laughed at the Hariyama's misfortune. "Nice one, Su-mope!"

Zahku growled and kicked the back of his legs before standing up and punching him out of the tiltrotor.

"Sabrina, Fez, and Klavier!"

The Staraptor, Unfezant, and Gliscor flew out of the tiltrotor one after the other.

"Rapid and Reta!

The Linoone was carried forward by his tail, struggling the whole time, while the Furret was under the Hariyama's arm.

"This is so dumb why are you even carrying USSSSSSSSSSSSSS?!" Rapid exclaimed before Reta bit Zahku's arm, making him release her momentarily.

"Rapid!" she exclaimed before jumping out behind him.

"Striker and Farra, the stalker and stalkee!"

"Ready Striker?" the Girafarig questioned the still Metapod that was in her horns. "Farra, stop it...I told YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!"

"Bashful Connor!"

The Bouffalant nervously looked over the edge before being kicked in the behind by Zahku and pushed out.

"Frosty the snow cone!"

The Vanilluxe groaned as he floated out. "Why the hell am I back here?"

"Wife of magic mutt, Morgan!"

The Persian groaned as she walked forward and looked at the water below. She felt Zahku come up behind her and gave him a death glare. "Don't even think about it…"

Zahku backed off as the Persian jumped out.

"Wife of badass Jet, Sally!"

The evolved Ampharos leapt out of the tiltrotor without saying a word, though she had an irked expression on her face.

"Lassie!"

The Froslass floated out of the tiltrotor with a sigh.

"Titan and Cramad!"

"C'mon Shiela, we got another chance. Though, I'm unsure if it's worth it," the Galvantula said, looking down at all of the competitors swimming to shore.

"Titan, why did you agree to this?" asked the Parasect. "You know that we're bound to be fucked with…"

"We're all gonna be fucked WIIIIIIIIIIIIITH!" Titan screamed as Zahku knocked him out. Cramad immediately jumped after with a scream to avoid Zahku.

"Ex of the evil Ray...Summer!"

"Touch me and it'll be the last thing you do…" Summer threatened, glaring at Zahku, who left her alone. She looked down at the water and growled before looking down at the water. "Nope. Somebody better help me here…"

A giggle was heard as a familiar Feraligatr approached the Typhlosion. "I gotcha…"

Summer got on the Feraligatr's back as she jumped out of the tiltrotor.

"And Marie!" Victini added upon seeing the Feraligatr jump out with Summer. He shook his head in disappointment.

"Phill!"

The Raticate moved forward and jumped out of the aircraft.

"'Mrs. Fuck your man', Aura!"

"Oh, fuck YOOOOOOUUUUU!" the Shiny Glaceon exclaimed before being dropped out.

"Mr. Steal your girl, Kojo!"

The Mienshao groaned as he walked forward and jumped out on his own, uncaring.

"Skater girl Marionette and Dhaunt!"

The Banette and Gengar floated out of the flying apparatus.

"Freezeo!"

The Cryogonal floated out of the tiltrotor with a smirk.

"Clay!"

The Sudowoodo walked forward out of the tiltrotor with his same creepy smile.

"Uh huh…" Victini said, seeing this. "Cano and Vixen!"

"This is fucking bullshit…" the Arcanine growled, padding forward with a Ninetales by his side.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, now can we?" asked Vixen as she climbed onto his back.

He jumped down into the water.

"Sparky and Luna!"

The Luxray groaned and jumped out, with the Mightyena following suit.

"Wife of Satan….Shine!"

The Espeon glared upon hearing her introduction, but leapt out anyway.

"Wife of Diablo…Sola!"

"Okay, seriously why the hell are you just saying that we're the wives!?"

"Because you are and you're not significant!" Victini explained as Mew remained quiet.

"The most annoying player in the history of these shows...Egridos!"

"FOURTH WALL!" the Cofagrigus exclaimed as most of the other competitors groaned in annoyance, minus the ones from Revenge and Parafrosyni.

"And finally, the last competitor, the winner of our first Total Pokemon Island...Skore!"

The Drapion took a breath and jumped out, screaming as he splashed in the water below with the others watching. Some of whom flinched upon hearing the sound of him slapping against the water.

 **000**

On the shore of the new island, the competitors that sat or stood in the sand were agitated, watching the two hosts float down toward them.

"So, you fucks decided to actually keep this bullshit series going?" Sabrina asked with a glare.

"Yep...and you fucks are going to be the victims this time around," said Victini. "Hope you enjoy another season…"

"Oh fuck you. You know that we all hate this fucking show," Shine said, with a piercing glare. "And you."

"We know why _you_ hate it," Anthony spoke up. "Your devil mate got fucked by this slut against his will…" he said, gesturing to Aura, who blew Icy Wind at him, which didn't do much.

"He loved it and he knows it," Aura retorted. "It's not my fault I can get pregnant and that bitch can't."

"FUCK YOU!" Shine growled, a piercing glare set upon the Glaceon.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Mew said, finally speaking up among them. "Now, just so you all know, this season was all Victini's idea. I didn't want another season, but he literally dragged me into this…"

"Then why are you here?" Klavier asked.

"Do you really want to deal with Victini alone?" Mew questioned, knowing their answers.

"You're just as bad as him, so there's not that much of a difference!" Fez squawked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Chlotz spoke up. "In our season, Victini was the one pulling the most bullshit. Mew was actually doing good."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Phill asked.

"We all can ask you the same thing, rat boy," Aspen commented. "Even I don't remember your fucking name."

"Uh...weren't you eliminated first in your season?" Reta asked mockingly. "You don't have any room to talk…"

Once Reta said that, the competitors erupted in arguments, with only a few remaining silent and moving away from the group, them being Carson, Sally, Cramad, Ace, Ashton, Skore, Holly, and Amethyst. Suddenly a whistle got everyone's attention again.

They all turned toward the two hosts, who were next to a flagpole. The competitors all exchanged glances before walking toward them.

"Welcome to Total Pokemon Underdogs!" Victini started, as if the entire scene on the beach didn't just happen. "You forty-four have been chosen by me to return because I found you either boring, I wanted to see more from you, or you should have been in All-Stars and just didn't show up," he said, passing his glares toward Morgan, Cano, Skore, and Striker.

"Oops, sorry, I was too pregnant to actually compete in your season of ruining lives…" Morgan commented sarcastically.

"Every season is the season of ruining our lives," Kojo said blankly as some of the others muttered and nodded in agreement.

"Haven't you been getting acting jobs and aren't you still dating a model?" Victini questioned. "What part of YOUR life is ruined?"

Kojo didn't respond.

"Mmhmm, exactly," Victini replied. "Now-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, you're _still_ dating that model bitch?" Phill questioned. "Hasn't she cheated on you like...four times already?"

Kojo gave him a look. "Let's NOT talk about that, huh?"

"ANYWAY!" Victini exclaimed, getting their attention again. "Since only one of you has actually won the competition before, I'm gonna just call you all losers anyway. And because you all are losers, your teams are gonna be given loser names."

"Yes, apparently that makes plenty of sense for this season of insanity," Mew said as he started unfolding a list given to him by Victini. "Team One, dubbed…" he started before giving Victini a look of annoyance.

"Just read them," Victini said upon seeing the look.

"Dubbed the 'Horrible Ho-ohs'," Mew continued as the competitors gave Victini a 'seriously?' look, only for him to smile in return. "Brian, Aspen, Cano, Pia, Clay, Luna, Dhaunt, Marion, Klavier, Aura, Phill, Lassie, Titan, Cramad, Fez, Sabrina, Rapid, Marie, Anthony, Summer, Freezeo, and Annie…"

"Oh great, we're horrible birds," Fez commented. "That's just wonderful."

"And the rest of you are dubbed…" Mew started before groaning. "The Loser Lugias. Ace, Amethyst, Skore, Ashton, Striker, Vixen, Carson, Shine, Sparky, Sola, Kojo, Macey, Egridos, Holly, Frosty, Morgan, Connor, Farra, Taylor, Reta, Chlotz, and Sally."

"Great, they're called horrible, and we literally get called losers," Taylor said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, you're a he-she, you ARE a loser," Aspen commented, earning her a Hydro Pump to the face by the Milotic.

"Drown on that, bitch," Taylor growled.

"Alright, both teams are settled, so let's get you guys situated with this new island," Mew said.

"Hey, as long as it isn't zombie infested, I'm A-Okay," Ace said with a smile.

 **000**

Victini moved to the larger campground, located in the center of the island. There were two cabins in a situation similar to All-Stars, with one being much much shabbier and terrible and the other being large, rather average looking, and clean.

"Now, I'm sure that some of you that have seen All-Stars. If you haven't, well fuck you," Victini said, causing a bit of recoil from a few of the competitors. Apparently their lives HAD to revolve around this show.

"Fuck you, too, bastard!" Vixen growled.

"Yeah mate, our lives don't revolve around this here game!" Titan exclaimed.

"And yet you're here," Victini replied.

Mew groaned. "Basically, if you win challenges, you sleep in the Winner's Cabin, if you lose, you get the shitty cabin, same as All-Stars, but this time you just get another cabin because you're well, underdogs," Mew commented.

"Great explanation, ten out of fucking ten," Egridos commented, rolling his eyes.

"Alright, those are the cabins," Victini said as he continued floated to a large, open picnic area. There were two long tables with ten seats on each side sitting on a large, rectangular concrete slab with one wooden pillar on each corner. A mahogany roof sat upon them.

"What? Are we too bad for a mess hall, now?" asked Rapid.

"Precisely," Victini replied before Rapid groaned.

"Okay, did you make this season up just to insult us and make us feel like shit?" Summer growled, folding her arms.

"Hmm...partially," Victini said before tapping Mew, who he expected to explain.

Mew, upon receiving the tap, gave the fox a look and groaned. "He wants to see you all's true colors. You barely did shit in the seasons you were in and were pretty much insignificant to him, so he decided to bring you back to this season to see how many of you will break and put down the boring, lame facade you established," he explained monotonously.

"It's not our fault the author is shitty!" Anthony exclaimed.

"No, you-"

"FOURTH WALL!"

Everyone groaned.

"What the hell do you mean, 'true colors'?" asked Lassie.

"He's talking about the fact that none of us knew that Flynn was married, Demenio was psychotic, Jet and Aylesha dated when they were younger. Things like that…" Mew explained as some of the competitors eyes grew wide and they exchanged nervous, frantic looks. "And...judging by those expressions, a lot is going to be brought up that you don't guys don't want to be."

"Yep, this is going to be hell," Freezeo said with a sigh.

"All right, those are the cabins and that's the eating area," Victini smiled. "Let's move on."

 **-000-**

The group approached the bathrooms. "Here are the washrooms. You can bathe and use the toilets in there."

"Obviously," Skore said, rolling his eyes.

"Moving on, we have everyone's favorite device, the confessional!" Victini said, approaching an old, beaten up outhouse.

"Uh...you didn't think to upgrade it? Or just fix it and clean it?" Sparky questioned.

"Now why on Earth would we do that?" asked Victini.

"Point taken," the Luxray muttered.

"Alright," he continued before turning in the direction of the volcano. "That's the volcano, where a few of your challenges will be held. Near that volcano is a mountain, where other challenges witll be held." He then turned back to the beach and pointed a cliff, one that was much smaller than the one on the first island. "And that is the standard cliff that almost all of these islands have."

"You're not making us jump off of that are you?" Chlotz asked nervously.

"You'll find out sooner or later," Victini replied. "Plus, we made a good majority you all fall from a plane, be flung by a catapult, or be fired from a cannon. Heights should no longer be a problem for you."

"Whoa, wait, CANNON?!" Striker exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening.

"Yep, I can tell that none of you outside of Aura and Shine ended up seeing that season," Mew commented.

"How could I not when you had my fucking kids on!" Aura growled. "And my son ended up falling for this fag over here," Aura said, gesturing to Ace, who shuffled his paws in discomfort, not facing her. "Always coming over to hang around my boy. His _real_ dad may not care, but you know damn well that my new man doesn't tolerate that fuck shit."

"Yeah, and that's why he's moving in with him!" Ace exclaimed with a blush and a glare.

Aura growled as she started stalking toward the Sylveon, who growled back.

"Calm yourselves. You'll all have plenty of time to catch up, try to kill each other, screw, whatever you want, when we're finished," Mew said indifferently.

"What the hell else is there on this island? You covered all of the main things already," Sola asked annoyedly.

"We have a couple of other structures on this island," Victini explained. "Follow us."

 **000**

The two hosts led the competitors to a large building that looked broken down and condemned. It had a flag on the top of it with the words 'LeGrae High School' engraved on it.

"This...is LeGrae High School," Victini explained. "An old, abandoned school that some idiot constructors put in the wrong area. It was supposed to go somewhere in Alola, and they actually believed that _this place_ was part of Alola."

"So, this is pretty much the 'jail' of the island," Morgan inferred.

"Yes, only there's no phone for sexy time," Mew explained, causing groaned and shouts of anger to come from the group. "Uh...Victini was recording every time others went in there. I'm pretty sure that none of you wanna be on porn sites, though I'm pretty sure he sold some of the videos already."

"WHAT?!" most of them exclaimed.

"Yeah, so you're welcome," Mew said, folding his arms.

"And...I believe that's it…" Victini said, rubbing his paws together. "Oh, actually, there's a gym somewhere around here as well, but oh well, you'll find it on your own. Now, uh...you all have fun and catch up a bit and we'll be back for you all's first challenge.

"WHAT!?"

"Yep. Gonna start right off the back," Victini said. "So, have fun."

And with that, the cat and fox disappeared, leaving the forty-four contestants alone as they exchanged glances before going their separate ways.

 **000**

Fez and Sabrina flew toward the cliff of the new island. The twosome's relationship had been on and off for a while now, and at that moment, they were together. The Unfezant peered over the edge of the cliff and saw the numerous other islands in the distance.

He sighed. "You think there are shows being hosted over on those islands?" he asked, staring out as Sabrina came up behind him.

"Hell I don't know," Sabrina replied in an irritated tone. "I'm just pissed that I'm competing on a damn island with these bullshit hosts!"

"Hey, this is your _first_ time competing on an island. This is my second," Fez replied. "If anything, _I_ should be the one pissed off!"

"You made it to the merge," Sabrina replied with a blank expression. "I don't think you should com-"

Fez suddenly groaned, cutting her off. She glared at him, as she hated being interrupted, no matter the circumstances.

"What's the groan for now?" she questioned aggressively.

"Hey guys," she heard from behind her. She recognized the voice immediately and screamed in her head. Despite this, she took a breath and put on a fake smile before turning around to face the source. "Hello Klavier…"

The Gliscor rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I uh...wasn't so sure on what to do since everyone ended up going with certain groups or going alone."

"So the most logical choice was to follow us⎼out of the thirty-seven others you could choose from," Fez said, walking forward and standing by Sabrina's side.

"Look, I understand that things are a bit…." he started before pausing, attempting to find the right word. "Well, a bit 'tense' between us, but I just want to let you know that I don't have feelings for Sabrina anymore."

"You sure about that?" Fez questioned, not believing him one bit. "Because the last time you said that, you ended up kissing her for FAR too long…"

"Hey, it was Christmas, she was under the mistletoe, and I had too much eggnog. Not my fault," the Gliscor replied.

"Oh yes, blame the nog," Fez said, rolling his eyes as he walked away. Sabrina sighed as he did so and looked Klavier in the eye.

"Look Klavier, I understand that you like me, but I'm with Gary, and that's that," Sabrina explained. "You need to leave us alone."

"Wow, when you use his real name I know you're dead serious," Klavier said, eyes slightly wide. "But, I'm serious, too. I'm fine."

Sabrina was hesitant to believe him, a glint in his eyes causing this unsurety. Klavier was very persistent and it really creeped her out at times when she and Fez, or Gary, were at home and he showed up out of nowhere. Sure, he was nice and he liked her, but it got extremely annoying after a while.

"I don't know, Klavier. It's just…"

Klavier looked down. "It's okay, I understand," he responded regretfully. "I admit, I messed up and...I probably shouldn't have even come here. I'll just go."

Sabrina looked back at Fez, who held an aggravated expression as he stared off the cliffside, before turning back around. "Yeah, I think that'd be for the best."

Klavier nodded before taking flight. Sabrina shook her head before walking back up to Fez.

 **000**

" **I honestly don't know what Sabrina sees in him," Klavier said. "I mean, I respect him and everything, but it just doesn't make sense to me. He's really boring and inconsiderate."**

" **But, if Sabrina wants him, I'll let her have him", he continued. "Hopefully she realizes…"**

 **000**

Dhaunt, Marionette, Lassie, and Egridos were all at the abandoned high school. The eeriness of the area resonated with them, so they felt that this would be a good place to hang out. Both couples had been good friends outside of the game, so even though they knew that the game was going to be torturous, at least that had good early allies.

"Never thought that we'd actually be back on another island," Lassie brought up. "This is…weird."

"Yeah, it's kinda out of nowhere," Dhaunt spoke. "I mean, sure we were brought back for stupid cameo appearances and to help with challenges, but actually competing again is... a bit nerve-wracking."

"Hey, at least they didn't bring back any real threats," Egridos acknowledged. "Everyone here is practically harmless in one way or another."

"Uh...Skore, Cano, Sparky, Marie, Morgan-" Marion started.

"Bah. Skore is still weak mentally, Morgan is just a housewife now, I doubt the psycho brothers will be the same as the other two, and well, Marie is the only true wildcard you've listed," Egridos stated, folding his top two arms.

"Wow, you've really gotten analytical since you left the show," Dhaunt admired.

"Yeah, I figured that if I ever got re-entered into one of these dumb seasons, I should be on my A-game for once," Egridos explained. "Hopefully they don't treat me the same way they did in the past times I've competed."

"Maybe if you don't scream 'FOURTH WALL' all the time, they won't," Lassie said, folding her arms, giving him a serious look.

"Now you know that I can't do that," Egridos replied. "Where'd the comedy be?" he asked as sudden a laugh track was heard, causing the other three ghosts to look around in confusion.

They then turned back to the Cofagrigus, who was now holding a soundboard. They gave him a look of unamusement.

"Oh-ho come on, you gotta admit that that's funny," Egridos said, chuckling.

Lassie sighed at his eccentricity.

 **000**

Skore, Frosty, Farra, and Striker were on the beach on the opposite side of the island.

"Well, we're back in this game," Frosty said. "I wish we were back home, instead, but I guess that trying to win more money isn't that bad of an idea. Rent is a bitch this time around."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Farra said before giggling. "I still can't believe that we're all in the same apartment complex!"

"Uh...Striker's the one who told you about the empty apartments, Farra," Skore said, sheepishly.

"I know, but it's still so much fun," she said with a smile.

"Yeah...it's a hoot," Striker said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on Striker, it's not that bad with her living there," said Frosty, as the two of them were roomies. "She's not even as crazy as she used to be."

Farra gave him a glare.

"Heh...no offense," Frosty said.

Farra huffed. "None taken."

"I thought you got over Striker," Skore said as Annie approached them.

Farra, seeing her approaching, hid a glare. Despite Striker insisting that he wanted nothing to do with her, Farr still cared deeply about the cocoon. The fact that Annie was his ex really irked her.

"Hey guys," the Bellossom said, sitting next to Skore's legs. "How've you all been?"

"Fine," Frosty said.

"Same here," Skore said.

"Yeah…" Striker said in agreement.

"That's good," she said, seeming to completely ignore Farra. The Girafarig didn't really care, but it made her hate the Bellossom even more.

"So, I bet you guys are all happy that you're on the same team," Annie said before looking to Striker and eyeing Farra. "Well, three out of four of you, anyway."

"Uh...what are you trying to say?" Farra asked with an irritated tone.

"I'm not saying anything," Annie replied, knowing what she was doing. "It's just an assumption."

"And why did you make that assumption? Hmm?" Farra questioned, tightening her glare.

Annie scoffed. "Let's not do this Farra. I'm mostly nonviolent."

"Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about violence in the first place!?" Skore exclaimed, shocked to hear that.

"Oh, so you want violence, huh?" Farra asked with a growl.

"Uh, that's the exact opposite of what she said," Frosty said, a bit nervous about the situation.

"Actually, she said, MOSTLY nonviolent, so-" Striker started before catching himself. "Yeah, don't do this. It's stupid."

"Well, this is because of you, dude, so…"

"Don't. Remind me…"

 **000**

Cano, Vixen, Sparky, Luna, Sola, and Shine were all at the picnic area near the cabins. Cano kept his head down, while the others tried to figure out their moves for this season.

"Well, isn't this wonderful?" Sola asked agitatedly. "We're all back on another Arceus-forsaken island for more bullshit torture."

"I'm pretty sure none of us want to be here," Sparky replied. "But, now that we're here, there's nothing we can do about it."

"Have Shine teleport us the fuck out of here," Luna countered, giving Sparky a look of 'obviously'.

"You know doing that won't do us any good," Shine replied. "Those fucks would bring us back as soon as they figured it out."

"Well, looks like we're stuck in this damn game again," Vixen growled softly.

"Hey, come on guys, I know that this is a shitty situation, but at least we each have a chance to win the big prize at the end," Sparky said, trying to stay positive.

"Yeah, that ain't happening," Cano finally said, lifting his head with an angry glare. "I don't wanna be here, none of you want to be here, and nobody watching this dumb show wants us to be here, so just leave it at that. I got second place in the first season of this stupid show and I was mostly just quiet and Vixen's already won another show, so it's unlikely that she's gonna win this one. You guys have a chance, but being related to me, or just us in general is a huge fucking problem."

"And why is that?" asked Vixen. "How do you know that our chances are slimmer than everyone else. Just because I won another show doesn't mean I don't have a chance."

"You realize how much hate we get because of this stupid show, right?" Cano growled, keeping his glare. "Nobody gives a shit about us! I'm apparently a jackass because I try to avoid problems whenever I'm in this show and it's boring, and Vixen is STILL getting called a slut every time we go out! Someone even sent a fucking DEATH THREAT!"

"We're immortal because of this same show, dude," Sparky said, bringing up a positive point. "Anyone who tried would fail anyway."

Cano growled, turning to him abruptly out of agitation. "You're missing the fucking point, as always. Plus, it's likely that because the others know about our 'family mental problem' thanks to douchebag daddy, we're gonna be out early on. Which...is actually a good thing on my account."

"You are such a fucking downer lately," Sparky said, glaring back. "I get it, you're pissed the hell off that we're back because you think this game has ruined your life, but need I remind you that you met Vixen here!? That you've made a lot of fr-"

Cano gave him a look before he could finish that sentence. He barely conversed with anyone outside of this game besides his own family and Dew's family. Sparky, seeing his look, immediately abandoned that statement. "That we're all, again, IMMORTAL!? If that isn't worth the bullshit we've gone through, then you have issues."

Cano just laid his head back down, making Sparky groan.

"We'll just go for along as we can. If we get eliminated, who the hell cares?" asked Luna. "We go home and live our lives like normal again. It's as simple as that."

"Yeah, and if we end up making it far, then we fight for our place…" Shine said with a confident grin.

The girls all smiled, as did Sparky, but Cano remained adamant.

 **000**

 **Cano: Bullshit. We'll be gone before they know it.**

 **000**

Connor was walking through the lush forest of the island, eventually coming upon a small lake in the middle. It was very clean and had a very soothing atmosphere around it. Taking a breath, he looked around the perimeter of the lake and saw Amethyst, Ashton, Carson, and Holly lying on the opposite side, talking.

The Bouffalant hadn't truly maintained fond connections with other 'original' competitors. Sure, he was able to talk to some of them, but he didn't really consider any of them friends. It had been years since he competed, but he still was pretty diffident. He couldn't really explain why, but he was. He was actually debating on whether or not to interact with the old new guys, or the 'second generation cast'. He didn't know them and they didn't know him.

He wasn't in that big of a rush to ally with people anyway. Sure, in most cases, being alone in a game like this made you a target, but what were the odds of him getting cut early again? He got eliminated in the second season for a dumb reason anyway; they blamed him for a loss that would have happened even if he was there the whole time.

"Hmm...maybe not yet," he said to himself as he started walking away from the lake.

 **-000-**

"Well, we've got another chance for the moolah!" Carson said cheerily.

"Yep. Hopefully we're able to make it further than we did in our season," Holly added.

"Yeah, we can only hope," Ashton said, nodding in agreement. "The competition is looking half-tough and half-average."

"Yeah, a lot of these veterans are intimidating," Amethyst said before laying her head in the grass. "I wish they brought Sven back instead of me. I'm not good under these kinds of conditions just yet. We were still working on it."

"Uh...what conditions?" asked Carson.

"Large groups. Public. Just around people I don't recognize in general," Amethyst explained, staring at the grass.

"Amy, I'm sure that you'll be fine," Ashton said soothingly, rubbing the Amaura's back with a vine.

"I hope," she muttered.

"Speaking of hoping, how are things going for you guys' relationships?" asked Carson with his same demeanor.

"Well, uh...Ross and I decided to break it off," Holly explained, looking down. "Apparently we 'went too well' together. So our relationship ended up getting boring."

"Aw...that sucks," said Carson.

"Yeah. I never heard about a relationship ending because the partners were too good to each other," Ashton said, bewildered.

"Well, it happened. Luckily it was a mutual relationship. We're still okay."

"That's good," said Ashton, nodding. "Well, Raiden and I are now married," she revealed with a blush.

"Aww….congrats," Holly replied.

"Yeah, that's awesome!" Carson said with a smile. "Where's your ring?"

"Oh, I left it at home," Ashton replied. "Knowing this game, I was bound to lose it, so I cut out the middle 'mon."

"That's smart. Kyle keeps losing his whenever he goes out somewhere, but then he just buys himself another one," Carson explained as the girls shared confused expressions.

"Wait, what do you mean buy himself another one?" Amethyst asked in her same position.

"Oh, he got married to Wave and Scarlett," Carson revealed, causing the girls to bug out a bit.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Holly exclaimed. "KYLE proposed!?"

"Well, it wasn't really a proper proposal," Carson started. "He just asked them did they want to get married. Wave said yes almost instantly and Scarlett was so shocked that she pounced on him."

"Wait, how did he afford the rings?" asked Ashton.

"He sells his pies to prank shops and normal bakeries for a BUNCH of money. He's got like over three million Poke in the bank right now!"

"Just from pies?" Amethyst questioned. "That's...weird."

"It's Kyle. Of course it's weird," Carson said, chuckling. "It's even weirder considering that's he's fully evolved now and he still has his same demeanor."

The girls remained silent at that information. It was just all too strange to think about.

 **000**

 **Ashton: Wow, I guess you CAN make it huge outside of the game. I still can't believe Kyle's a millionaire now…**

 **000**

"So you really got pregnant by the pink bitch's husband?" Aspen asked as she and Aura lied in the female side of the cabin.

"Yep," Aura said with a smirk. "Only one of my kids is his, though, so it wasn't _that_ big of a deal. I'd have loved for both of them to belong to him."

Aspen giggled. "That's a bit trashy in my opinion, but your personality really makes up for it."

Aura chortled. "I get that a lot."

"So, how was he?" asked Aspen.

"Oh ho-ho…" Aura started with a naughty smirk. "Are you a virgin?"

"No," Aspen replied. "I have a man, myself…"

"Well, I'm not gonna be too explicit, but I'll just say...Coke bottle," she said with a giggle as Aspen blushed and laughed herself.

"Ooh~" Aspen said, amused to hear that. "So, how did it feel to be pregnant?" she asked. "My boyfriend and I are thinking about having a little brat, but we're unsure."

"Well, luckily for Glaceon it doesn't take that long, I'm unsure about what a Furfrou's gestation period is, though," Aura explained.

"Fuck…" Aspen growled.

"Your parents never told you and you didn't think to search it up yourself?" asked Aura, surprised by her lack of knowledge regarding her own species.

"My parents didn't bother because they didn't think I'd fall for someone, and I wasn't really thinking until now," Aspen replied, a bit embarrassed.

"Ah, well I'm sure when you and your boyfriend are back home, you can look it up, weigh your options, and decide what you want to do," Aura insisted. "I didn't plan my pregnancy, it just happened, and I was lucky that _one_ of my baby daddies actually cared enough to help me."

"Was it the one with the bo-"

"No," Aura said, rolling her eyes. "He actually cared about wife more than me and wanted nothing to do with me or his kid. His wife actually had to MAKE him care, and now he cares a lot."

"Wow, that bitch really is dumb," Aspen stated. "If my man got another girl pregnant, all ties are gonna be broken. If it's not property of BOTH of us, then fuck it."

"Well, I'm kinda happy that he's in her life. If he wasn't, she'd probably burn down my house and I'd kick her out," Aura said honestly. "She's got his awful genes, so he's good for helping her control herself."

"Yeesh," Aspen replied. "Sounds like a problem child."

"Well, she spends more time with him now anyway, so it doesn't really matter," Aura said with a shrug. Suddenly, a question popped up in her head. "Say, why are you even competing if you're already rich?"

"No such thing as too much money, now is it?" Aspen asked rhetorically. "Plus, I want to be able to make money for myself."

Aura nodded. "Understandable."

"Yeah."

 **000**

 **Aura: I think Aspen and I will be getting along just fine.**

 **000**

Brian had easily found a cave to reside in and set up his new lair. After Parafrosyni Island, he attempted to go back to his normal life, but the pull and passion to be a villain was too strong for him to break. So, he was back to his original antics. And with Esmeralda not around to talk to him, and the fact that only a select few here even knew him, if he had succeeded, that was that.

As he sat down in his chair, he sighed to himself and rubbed his face. "Alright," he started. "Back in this competition. Forty-three others in my way this time. Gonna be a lot more difficult."

He suddenly felt arms wrap around him. The feeling of the arms was all too familiar for the Reuniclus and he floated out of the chair quickly.

"Woman! I keep telling you to leave me alone!" Brian exclaimed as the Gourgeist just smiled at him in response.

"Aw, come on Brian, you know that I'm wonderful," Macey said cheerily.

"You despised me on the other island, missy! And I don't believe in dating!" Brian exclaimed as he sat back down in his chair. "Now please leave the vicinity or I will be forced to well...force you out!"

"Forced to use force?"

"Whatever!" Brian exclaimed, looking back at his computer and starting to look up information on the competitors that he could remember the names of.

"What are you even doing?" asked Macey, floating forward in interest.

"Combeeswax, mind your own," Brian replied, causing Macey to smile to herself.

"If you don't tell me, I'll have to tell your team that you're cheating when we get to the challenges," Macey threatened.

"Ah yes, using information available to everyone; that's definitely cheating," Brian said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You're the only one with a computer here, so...yeah," Macey said. "It's an unfair advantage."

Brian twitched turned around in his chair, giving her a glare. "What the hell do you want, woman? I don't have or know anything that you'd find helpful, so why keep pestering me?"

"Because you helped my dreams become reality," Macey said with a chipper smile. "And I'm finally among some of the originals, where my true dreams will be able to become a reality."

Brian gave her a look. "I'm not making you any rays."

"Oh, I'm sure that if Ray was here, he'd love what I'd do," Macey said with a creepy giggle. "See," Macey said, holding up a rather crudely drawn picture of an Absol with a Samurott connected to his behind and an Arcanine connected to his mouth.

Brian, seeing this, had to suppress his urge to gag.

"Yeah~" Macey said, marvelling at her work. "If only he and Dew were in _this_ season. But, since Cano's the only one here, I'll have to use him as my master seme. He's not bigger than Dew, but he'll have to do."

Brian shuddered. "Why do you obsess about this so much?"

"Because it's extremely attractive to those with open eyes...and just seeing guys, who are supposed to be all about masculinity, be pounded by each other, it's so...fulfilling to me," Macey said with a blissful sigh.

Brian blinked before turning back to his computer, unable to respond to that. Macey giggled and rubbed his shoulders, causing him to groan in discomfort.

"I'll make you a deal, Bri-Bri…" Macey said. "You make me another Love Ray, and I'll leave you alone for the rest of this season."

Hearing that, Brian gave her a look of disbelief. Nobody here knew of him and his antics other than Pia, Macey, Ace, and Taylor, and he was lucky that they were all on the opposing team, minus Pia, so they couldn't get to him. At least he hoped.

"Fine…" he said through grit teeth.

Macey cheered and kissed his cheek, causing him to twitch as she disappeared. He immediately wiped it off and shuddered.

 **000**

 **Brian: I'm not sacrificing my sanity to that psycho gay porn addict. I'd apologize, but I find there to be no reason to.**

 **000**

Phill and Kojo were walking around the island, eventually sitting on a log that was on the outer edge of the forest on the west side of the island. The Raticate and Mienshao hadn't really communicated often in the first two seasons nor when they met back up for cameos, but they ended up connecting when Phill went to the mall a few months back and saw him signing autographs with a sad expression on his face. Since then the two had been good friends.

Since Jesse and Volante moved on with their lives, Phill didn't really have any luck with friends beside that time, and Kojo, being an actor, was friends with other celebrities, but it didn't feel real, leaving him to become depressed. Meeting back up with Phill, someone who barely talked to initally, was actually beneficial for his sanity.

"Never thought we'd be back in this competition," Phill said sheepishly.

"Yeah," Kojo replied, slouched over with his head in his paws. "This fucking sucks."

"Hey, at least when you get eliminated you don't have anything to worry about," Phill said, patting his back.

"Zella is probably cheating on me at this very moment…" Kojo replied in a disheartened tone.

Hearing that, Phill grew confused. "Dude, why are you still with her if she's openly admitted to screwing around? YOU'VE EVEN CAUGHT HER!"

"Yeah, I know, but if I dump her, she'll ruin my career," Kojo explained. "That's what's happened to other guys that she's dated."

"Wait, so _she_ sleeps around, and when the guy gets fed up and leaves, _they_ get their lives ruined?" Phill questioned. "How the hell does that even work?"

"She has connections and lies," Kojo said, swiping at the sand and causing some of the particles to blow off. "If I dump her, I'm done for."

"Dude, can't you just expose h-"

"They know that she sleeps around!" Kojo interjected. "She essentially brags about it on Instagram and Twitter!"

"And she's still the successful one?!"

Kojo sighed. "Just forget it, man. I'm here, and hopefully I make it far enough for me to still be relevant. I'm just gonna dump her when I get out and take whatever happens."

"Dude, you're not supposed to be so down on yourself," Phill said. "I mean, I know that your mom died when you were filming and they wouldn't let you go, but you can't let that one event control how you feel about your situation. You've got a good thing going on, outside of the bitch."

"Just drop it Phill. You're not making me feel better," Kojo said bluntly before sighing. "I appreciate it, but it just isn't worth it."

Phill looked down, saddened.

 **000**

 **Phill: Well, hopefully Kojo is able to pull himself together.**

 **000**

Morgan was getting a feel of the new island, walking around the beachy areas. She shook her head agitatedly. She couldn't believe that she was back on another island to compete. Just a few months after she had her and Hex's daughter, too.

She wanted to be back with her family, not on this stupid show! She didn't even care about the money! Despite her anger, she had to sigh, as getting angry wouldn't help the situation. She lied down in the sand and slashed at the sand, leaving three marks in the ground.

"Okay, Morgan…" she told herself. "You're back in this stupid game and your chances of winning are...rather unlikely at this point. You can handle this, though. You're here, so you might as well just try to win again."

"Hey!" she heard as she continued weighing her options. Looking up, she saw Summer and Marie approaching her. She rose a brow in confusion before getting back on her feet, shaking a bit to get sand off of her underside.

"What's up?" Morgan asked hesitantly. She wasn't afraid of them at all, it was just weird to have them come up and likely try to talk to her as if it was normal. Then again, they've all been in this series for years, so it _should_ be normal to talk to each other.

"Nothing, just annoyed that this stupid show is still a thing," Summer growled, folding her arms as Marie rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, we're all immortal now and the fact that they're giving us another chance to win a bunch of cash is a good thing!" Marie highlighted. "I don't get why all of you are acting like this game is awful."

"The game IS awful!" Summer exclaimed. "You know that it is!"

"The only things that are awful are Victini, _some_ of the challenges, and most of you guys' attitudes," Marie replied.

"Oh, so you're fine with what Ray did third season? What Otto was doing to Archie?" Morgan questioned.

"Uh...you're blaming the game in place of the people who are PLAYING the game," Marie explained. "I'm not condoning anything, but people have their own way of going about things. But overall, the game isn't the problem, it's the players," she said confidently.

Morgan sighed. "I suppose that makes sense."

"Please," Summer said, not believing Marie's statement. "The game is the reason people acted the way did!"

"Yes, making friends, finding love, experiencing relationship issues, and wanting money is completely the game's fault. The person's own character and moral compass has nothing to do with it," Marie said sarcastically. "You know what? I'm not gonna argue. You can keep thinking negatively about the game if you want, Summer, but know that it's actually done a lot more good than what most of the you complain about."

Summer grumbled to herself, while Morgan shook her head slightly.

"So, how's the hubby and kid?" Summer asked, attempting to change the subject.

"They're fine," Morgan replied, taking a seat back in the sand. "Alexa absolutely loves her daddy," she giggled.

"I bet she does," Marie said with a smile. "So, what do you think will happen this time around?"

"Shit...same as always," Summer said exasperatedly.

Marie sighed.

 **000**

"So you got eliminated because of over competitiveness?" asked Rapid as he sat around with Chlotz, Reta, Pia, Sally, and Freezeo.

"Yeah, the team I was on was full of overly serious girls that gave no fucks about how anyone else felt," Chlotz explained.

"Geez, that sounds like hell," said Freezeo.

"It was," Chlotz replied. "No one could say anything, or make a mistake without being called weak or being blamed for the whole loss when they were just as at fault as the person they blamed. They fucking set me up to fail when there was a much faster, better way to finish the challenge!"

"Oh that's messed up," Reta said. "They aren't here are they?"

"Well, as far as I know, Autumn's mom and stepmom are here, and Karen isn't here, thankfully," Chlotz replied.

"I think that's a conspiracy handled by-"

"Pia...nobody cares," Chlotz interrupted. "I'm sorry, but no. No conspiracies."

"You can't silence me," the Hypno replied. "You all voted me out because of the conspiracies going on and now I've got a lot more respect in my group."

"What group? The group of-hey, we're on another island!" Rapid said, looking around.

Reta sighed. "Not again," she muttered to herself.

"What are we doing on another island, Reta? Are we on vacation? Who are these other people?" Rapid asked quickly while looking around giddily.

"Again?" Sally asked. "I thought you got treatment for him."

"We got some pills, but he forgets to take them sometimes," Reta explained as she grabbed his constantly moving head and held him close again her. Bringing him closer to her almost always calmed him down when the pills wore off.

Rapid sighed in comfort as Reta kissed his nose, making him smile a bit.

"There's a conspiracy that says that medical conditions don't exist and people that claim to have them just do it for attention," Pia said. "It's unknown what the truth is, though."

"The truth is that people in your group are morons who try to make everything into a problem just because you don't like information given by professionals…" Freezeo stated.

"There are no professionals! Everyone works for the government!" Pia exclaimed.

Chlotz groaned, face-fanning himself. "You see why we voted her out early?"

"Well, we can't just judge and vote based on our own prejudices or anything," Sally chimed in. "This time around it needs to be purely based on challenge performance."

"Yeah, that's not gonna be happening and you know it," said Reta, slowly releasing Rapid. "Remember my list? I seriously got eliminated because of THAT."

"That was years ago. And I doubt anyone here is that entitled or arrogant anymore," Sally said. "We need to be thinking about this strategically."

"Well, this is a new side of you," Rapid said, regaining focus.

"Yeah, did Jet fuck the shyness out of you or something?" asked Freezeo. "I mean, you barely did anything in your first seasons."

"That's practically everyone's case here, which is why Victini chose us to return," Chlotz explained. "Though I'm confused as to why I'm here. I actually did things for my team."

"Remember, he said he chose some people to come back just because, too," Reta added.

"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling y-"

"Hush, please. No conspiracy talk needed," Chlotz said, interrupting her.

Pia growled, folding her arms.

 **000**

Cramad and Titan were eyeing Clay, who was standing motionless around the campgrounds with his smile on his face. Others that were around, upon seeing Clay there, immediately left the area, not wanting to be around him.

"Uh, mate?" asked Titan, seeing him, poking him. "You alright there?"

"He's been like this since the beginning," Cramad spoke. "He was the original over-optimist. It's creepy."

"Yeah, that's true, Shiela," Titan said, looking back at Clay, who was now staring directly at them. They jumped back from surprise.

Suddenly, children's songs were heard softly, getting louder a bit. It was extremely creepy, causing the two bugs to look around for the source of it.

 _Ring around the rosie_

 _Pocketful of posies_

 _Ashes….ashes…_

 _We…_

"We all fall down," Clay muttered.

"Uh...what?"

"We all fall down," Clay said louder. "WE ALL FALL DOWN."

"Um, I think we should go," Cramad urged as she and Titan started scuttling away from the Imitation Pokemon.

"WE ALL FALL DOWN!" he yelled.

"WE ALL FALL DOWN!" he screeched.

 **000**

 **Titan: Okay, the mate is completely gone, mentally. I have no idea how to really respond to that.**

 ***Sigh* And he's on our team, too. This is going to be a pain.**

 **000**

Ace was walking toward through the forest, alone. He was surrounded by others he barely knew or he completely hated. The hatred was mainly focused on Aura, Chase's mother. Every time he came around or Chase went out with him when he was with her, there was this huge problem. He really prefered when Chase was with his father and stepfather because they were more accepting. They were the same way, after all!

He sighed as he continued walking, eventually sticking his front paws into the lake out of carelessness.

He backed out of the lake and looked around, seeing that no one was around. He took a breath and leaned down to take a drink just as a large splash and wave got his attention. Water dripped from his body and he groaned in annoyance.

"Huh, for a femboy you sure know how to get wet without your boyfriend around," he heard a familiar voice say. He growled in annoyance, seeing Taylor there.

"Speak for yourself," Ace retorted with a snarl. "You're the femboy here! I didn't pretend to be a girl for most of the season."

"Oh please," Taylor said, rolling his eyes. "That was just strategy. And since my cover's now blown, there's no point in trying the charade this time."

"Yeah, because you're gonna be eliminated early anyway," said Ace. "All I have to do is remind a few people on the team that you're the one who hurt Autumn."

"What?" he questioned with a chuckle. "Why would anyone care? It was years ago, for one, and her mom's on the opposite team."

"That bitch may be on the other team, but her uncle and aunts are on _our_ team," Ace said cheekily. "Meaning, if you step out of line, all I have to do is remind them, and you're gone."

Taylor paled. The competition hadn't even truly started yet and he was already in check. And by the twink, no less!

"What the hell happened to you?" Taylor asked. "What happened to the shy little bitch that was on Parafrosyni?"

"Chase and his dads helped me build up my confidence," Ace said, turning around to head back to the campgrounds. "So...enjoy this new me, because I'm not gonna be taking any crap from ANY of you."

Taylor growled with a glare before gaining a smirk.

 **000**

 **Taylor: So, the little fluffer thinks that he's gonna be all take charge? We'll see how far that gets him. Most of these people didn't even bother watching our season, so it's gonna be a battle of words…**

 **We'll see who comes out on top.**

 **000**

While the campers got acquainted and reacquainted with each other, the two hosts decided to head back to the hall and watch.

"So, what's the first challenge for this 'Oh-so great season'?" Mew asked Victini as they watched the footage in the first Boys' Club.

"Oh, it's gonna be good. It's kinda gonna be based off of a movie," Victini said with a smile.

"Great...so these challenges are gonna be homages, too?" asked Mew.

"Yep," said Victini. "And I'm set and ready to begin…"

"I bet you are…" Mew muttered.

 **000**

 **Yeah, this series will live on. I figured that the problem was with the different format, so I'm just gonna stick with who I have for now. Unfortunately, this means that Risible Race won't be happening. However, that doesn't mean the OCs won't be used sooner or later. I don't entirely know where I'm gonna go, but I will try to finish this after I finish Alola. I'm still waiting on certain people before I can continue with Alola, so this is just an in the meantime thing. Also, I figured that since career will be dealing with drawing and writing (Animator/Writer/Showrunner for cartoons), that I'd might as well get used to it. I'm feeling fine now, so don't worry. I know that you're all tired of me saying that I'm taking a break and then coming back soon, but...hey, deal with it. Anyways, yeah. These are the returners. Any hopes? Predictions on what's gonna happen? Let me know!**

 **Also, I know some of you won't follow a damn thing going on, but at least give this a chance and feel free to ask me for better understanding. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	2. Full Circle!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon; Forty-four of the series' most forgettable or lamest players return for another chance for the five million Pokemon. This season, the competitors will compete against each other, just like in every other season, as they try their hardest not to lose their cool. Relationships may break, friendships may end, hatred WILL increase! Who will be the last player standing in this season of fuckery? Find out now on Total...Pokemon..Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

"CAMPERS! RETURN TO THE CAMPGROUNDS! IT'S ABOUT TIME FOR YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE!" Victini announced as he and Mew returned to the island.

A few campers were already there, so they wouldn't have to wait _too_ long.

"You sure that this challenge is gonna work?" Mew whispered . "Because the way you explained it makes it sound like an automatic failure."

"We'll see what happens," Victini replied. "If it sucks, I'll just pull a 'you' and end it prematurely like a whiny bitch."

Mew gave him a look of annoyance before rolling his eyes. After a few minutes, the remaining campers started showing up around the campgrounds, standing around with their teams.

There were mumbles of annoyance, a few looks of agitation, and others of excitement.

"So, are you all ready for your first challenge?!" Victini asked enthuiastically.

"You know the answer to that, already," Summer said bluntly, folding her arms.

"You are? Great!" Victini cheered. "Now, like All-Stars, this season will be full of homages, as well as a few newer challenges."

"Oh hooray, more bullshit," Fez commented stoically.

"I know, right!" Victini responded in a mocking manner. "It's like this game has challenges that are gonna be hard and weird!"

"I think that's why he said bullshit," Shine spoke up.

"And this is exactly why you guys are here," Victini commented. "You're mostly weak, spineless losers who are too lazy to actually try and compete in the game."

"Whoa, who you calling weak and spineless?!" Morgan growled.

"I said mostly," Victini retorted. "I already told you your circumstances…"

"Oh, so if we didn't qualify for a bullshit season, we're weak, spineless, lazy fucks?!" Sabrina questioned aggravatedly.

"Precisely," Victini said without remorse. "Now let's get on with this challenge!"

A bright light suddenly enveloped the entire area, causing all of the competitors to black out in an instant.

 **000**

Numerous shadows were seen in a dark room. There was a bluish orb in the center of the room, electricity surging through it. The competitors were all seen standing in a circle around the orb. Under each competitor's feet or lower half was a blue circle. All of the competitors were in a pattern. Boy, girl, boy, girl, but also Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Lugia. There all seemed to be asleep at the time, well, at least most of them.

Marionette and Macey had been knocked out, yes, but they weren't asleep like the others.

"Uh...what the hell is going on?" asked Marionette, looking around and seeing the predicament they were all in. Dhaunt was to her left and as she reached over to try and wake him, a loud buzzer was heard, stopping her in her tracks as she retracted her arm.

"Who cares?" asked Macey, who was bent down, looking underneath Cano's body and sketching on her pad.

"Wh-What are you doing?!"

"Uh...getting a more accurate length and girth reference for my fanfics of course!" Macey said.

"Oh yes, the fanfiction conspiracy," Pia said, apparently awake as well. "It is often believed that all of these competitions are just written figments of imagination created by humans for their own personal enjoyment."

Egridos snorted before suddenly awaking. "Fourth wall!"

Suddenly, the same bright light from earlier shined in the room, immediately waking everyone up that wasn't already.

There was mumbling and exclaimations of confusion as they looked around the room.

"What the heck is th-" Holly started before flying off of her circle and getting shocked by the orb in the center, knocking her out. She was then teleported out of the room as the others looked on in shock.

"What in bloody hell is this?!" Titan exclaimed.

A bullhorn rang out, making all of the campers stop talking and look around. Suddenly, Victini's voice was heard.

"WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE!" he announced as the campers just waited for his explanation. "Your goal is to be the last one standing out of everyone. The one who wins, wins it for their team."

"Okay, but how the hell does this work?!" Sally asked. "Holly just got zapped for no reason!"

"Actually, there IS a reason," Victini started. "Each of you is standing stationary on a circle. You try to get off, you're out."

"Wow, so we're just trapped until others decide to walk off?" Luna questioned. "That's a pretty lame premise."

"No one cares about your opinion," Victini replied, making the Mightyena huff. "Plus, that's not how the game works. You all will be asked questions at some points, and other times...you'll just be voting."

"Wait, are you just ripping off that movie about the Pokemon who vote to kill each other in a circle?!" Phill questioned.

"In an homage to second season, yes, this challenge is based off of a movie," Victini replied. "And since you seem to know the movie's premise, I'll allow you to explain it. _If_ you last long enough to…"

The buzz was heard again, signalling that Victini was gone. Everyone immediately turned to Phill, who nervously growled.

"Phill, what the hell is going on?"

"Yeah, what do we do?!"

The others started yelling at him to explain the situation when suddenly humming was heard. Phill's eyes widened when he heard it. The others were still yelling at him, not even realizing, he twitched and finally yelled.

"QUIET!" he yelled, pointing to Chlotz, who got zapped shortly after.

Everyone froze immediately, looking at the now empty circle Chlotz was in.

With them quiet, Phill sighed. "Now...calm the hell down. And ONE AT A TIME, talk."

"What is this movie you and Victini were talking about and what do we have to do to win?" asked Freezeo.

"You guys won't win," Taylor spoke up.

"Quiet, he-she!" Brian exclaimed, making, resulting in Taylor trying to use Hydro Pump. However, nothing came out.

"Okay, so it goes like this," Phill started. "There are...thirty-eight of us left in the circle, with our team still having all of our players…"

"Which is complete bullshit," Sparky stated with a glare.

"Keep telling yourself that, devil boy," Anthony said, folding his arms. "Holly didn't know and got zapped on her own, and Phill took out someone random to get our attention. Get over it."

"ANYWAY!" Phill exclaimed. "According to Victini, he made a minor change to the scenario. Instead of just voting, we have to answer questions as well, likely so things don't get one-sided too fast…"

"A bit too late for that, don't ya think?" Egridos said, pointing to the two empty circles.

Phill huffed. "Look, they were unfortunate, but this is still a competition. Each team is going to have to make some easy or difficult decisions."

"So what do we do now?" Klavier asked.

Three beeps were suddenly heard, startling a few of them.

"What's that noise?" asked Ace.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't like the noise earlier when you guys were yelling at me."

"Hey, Victini said that we were gonna have to answer questions, as well as vote, right?" asked Annie. "Maybe this is the question noise."

Suddenly, both Kojo and Dhaunt's bodies started to glow due to their circles. Almost everyone gasped, while others looked on in interest

"Of course…" Kojo groaned.

"What the hell?!" Dhaunt exclaimed, looking at his hands.

A robotic, female voice was heard shortly after.

" _Who among you has cheated on their spouse more than once?_ " the voice asked, causing almost everyone's eyes to widened. The first challenge and things were already about to get personal.

Four answer choices started rotating around the orb. " _A) Vixen, B) Garrett, C) Morgan, D) Aura_ ," the voice read. " _Choose wisely._ "

"Uh...one of you wanna admit it so that we don't lose anyone else?!" Striker exclaimed.

"The only thing that happened was the kissing things because of these challenges!" Vixen exclaimed. "I don't think that counts!"

"I've never touched another guy outside of Hex!"

"Don't look at me, I'm single right now," Aura said, nose up.

Sabrina turned to Fez, mouth agape, before glaring. "You fucking BASTARD!"

"You seriously believe that!?" Fez exclaimed. "Come on! Vixen has kissed Cano's whole family, she might be lying, maybe she did more!"

"Hey, Watch it, buddy!" Cano growled as he and Vixen both glared at him.

"And even if she didn't, Aura's a slut! She likely lying!"

"Well, we're gonna find out now aren't we?" Sabrina growled.

"Wait...your real name is Garrett?" asked Skore.

"Does it matter, Skore? Come on!"

"B) Garrett," both Kojo and Dhaunt finally said.

That answer choice glowed a green color and everyone stared to Fez in shock. Sabrina growled. "WE'RE DONE, YOU FUCK!"

"Seriously? We've been on and off this entire time! How is it my fau-" he didn't even get to finish as the orb zapped him, taking him out of the game.

Everyone was surprised, staring at the fainted Unfezant before he was teleported out of the room.

"Wait, what just happened?" Lassie questioned. "Why'd _he_ get zapped?"

"Oh Arceus…" Marie started, understanding the situation as she held her head.

"What? What do you got?" Summer asked.

"I think I get how this is going to go," Marie continued as everyone listened. "When we're voting, it's our choice, but when it comes to the questions, it's completely random. When the question gets answered, if one of them gets it wrong, the one who answered wrong gets zapped. If they BOTH answer wrong, both of them gets zapped. But, if they both answer correctly, whoever they chose as the correct answer gets zapped."

"And that means...all of these questions are going to be personal," Connor said in an understanding tone.

"Well, this is going to suck," Rapid said, looking around as he tapped his claws onto the ground.

"Rapid...you okay?" asked Freezeo, nervous about his movement.

"Yeah I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Rapid asked, chuckling slightly.

"Uh huh, yeah...just checking," Freezeo replied. "We don't need you running off."

Rapid didn't respond, staring directly at the orb in the center of the room. He then looked around the area. "Whatarewedoinghereanyway?"

"Aw crap," Freezeo commented, seeing and hearing this.

"Likewhyareweallhere? Ihatestayinginoneplacefortoolong? ThissucksIwannago…"

"NO!" Summer yelled at him. "You're not going anywhere; you're not costing us the challenge."

Rapid growled softly to himself, tapping his claws vigorously as his tail swished wildly. "I wanna go…" he mumbled.

"Hey uh...Rapid," Taylor said, getting the Linoone's attention. Seeing this, Reta growled to herself.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" Reta questioned, giving him a stern glare. She didn't trust him talking to her boyfriend because Chlotz told them all how he operated.

"I'll give you a cookie if you run off of your circle," Taylor said kindly.

Rapid was a bit hesitant, but the offer of a cookie seemed too good to resist.

"Rapid…" Freezeo spoke, hesitation in his voice. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't have any cookies…"

"Dumbass!" Aspen exclaimed as the humming began. "Use your brain!"

"Wait, wait, how do we vote, Phill?!" Carson exclaimed.

"NO! Don't you tell them shit!" Anthony exclaimed. "YOU call the shots!"

"What kind of cookie?" Rapid asked, his tail swishing like crazy.

"RAPID NO!"

"Chocolate Macadamia," Taylor replied.

"YES!" Rapid exclaimed as he ran off of his circle, zapping him.

"NO!" Reta yelled before turning to Taylor, who was next to her. "You BASTARD! You took advantage of him!"

"It's a competition! Get over it, geez!" Taylor retorted.

"Yeah Reta, why are you so worried about someone from the _other_ team?!" Morgan asked.

"Oh, so you wouldn't be upset if Hex was the one who got zapped?!"

"Sure, I'd be upset, but we'd both know that this is a competition, still!" Morgan replied. "In this competition, you should know by now that it's okay to worry about your spouse, but if they're on the opposite team, you can't let it eat at you unless they're greatly harmed!"

"Wait, that doesn't really sound right," said Klavier. "So, I'm not allowed to care about my spouse, if I had one, if she's on the opposite team, unless she's hurt badly?"

"No, I'm not even saying that!" Morgan exclaimed. "I said that it's okay to worry. I never said that you shouldn't. I'm just saying that if your spouse gets outed in the challenge fairly, or if they get eliminated, don't let it eat at you and hinder _your_ performace. That puts a target on your back."

"Yeah, that makes more sense," Marie said, folding her arms.

"Does it?" Anthony questioned. "It just sounds like generalized bullshit to me. Throwing, shade almost."

"What?" Morgan questioned, glaring at him.

"I saw the first season, and the number of girls who got all emotional when her boytoy left was far too much, the number of couples that formed from practically nothing was far too much, and the amount of sex or innuendo that occured throughout this stupid show as a whole IS far too much!" Anthony blustered. "All you're saying is that if you want to make it far in the game, don't love your spouse unless they're on your team."

"You seriously just took everything she said and made it negative!" Lassie exclaimed.

"Yeah, and you added stuff that is complete fallacy!" Marion added.

"Did I?" Anthony questioned. "From my viewing, hardly any of the couples that have formed even had development leading up to it. It was just 'She looks cute, He looks cute, Wanna go out? Okay!"

"And?" Summer questioned, getting agitated by the Blastoise's comments. "What's your point in bringing all of this up?!"

"My point is that the relationships in this game are all just look based, not with actual love, so Mrs. Magic Mutt over there didn't even need to say anything!" Anthony exclaimed as the beeping was heard again.

Anthony and Frosty's bodies glowed.

"Oh for fuck sake," Anthony groaned annoyedly.

"WHY ME?!" Frosty exclaimed.

" _Who here is in a formal relationship with the child of another?_ " the robotic voice said as the choices popped up. " _A) Kojo, B) Annie, C) Ace, D) Phill._ "

Anthony stifled a laugh. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Um...uh…" Frosty started, unsure. He didn't know about any of their personal lives, so he felt like he was screwed.

"Anyone wanna fess up?" asked Cramad.

"And get eliminated from this challenge? Yeah, how about no?" Kojo questioned.

"A) Kojo?" Frosty said, questioningly.

"C) Ace," Anthony said, surprised at Frosty's choice. "What the hell kind of brain do you have?"

Frosty was zapped, knocking him out. He was teleported out soon after as a few people stared at Ace, who blushed a bit.

"So, whose kid are you dating?" Sabrina inquired. "I don't like keeping up with other people unless I see them frequently."

"The fag's dating my boy," Aura said hatefully. "He's ruining his life…"

"WHAT?!" Ace roared. "Bitch! You're the one ruining OUR lives! You're the reason that he prefers being with Ricky and Levi!"

"None of that started until you got in his life you twinkie!"

"You're damn right I'm a twinkie, and your son's cream is what fills me up," Ace said with sneer, causing many looks of shock to appear on the others' faces.

Aura was enraged. "I am going to make your life a living hell!"

"Oh no, what are you gonna do? Raise me?" Ace questioned. "Deal with your own problems, skank! How many STDs do you have, again?"

Aura gaped and snarled before leaping at him, causing her to be zapped before contact was even made.

"Well, uh…" Egridos started. "That escalated quickly."

"That bitch shouldn't have started it," Ace responded, sitting down with a huff. "I'm always a problem to her when I don't even care about her or do anything to bother her. I only care about Chase."

"Well, we can't do anything about young love but accept it," said Sparky. "It's what happened to majority of us…"

"Yes, but I doubt with your family, anyone gave a damn," Kojo commented.

"What?" Sparky asked.

"What the hell do you mean by that, Kojo?" Cano asked with a glare.

"What I mean...is that we've all seen your daddy, and he's an insufferable, rapist prick, and we've only seen Demenio's pornstar mom," Kojo explained. "I think it's safe to assume that you guys' moms don't give a fuck about who you date, unlike others' parents."

"And why the hell does it matter?" asked Sparky. "I'm with who I love and Cano's with who he loves. You don't need your parents' blessings if it's YOUR life!"

Suddenly, the humming was heard.

"Seriously, Phill, how do you fucking vote?!" Marie exclaimed.

"Don't you idiots realize that we can win if he's the only one who can vote!?" Anthony exclaimed.

"THEN IT'S NOT A TEAM CHALLENGE!" Dhaunt exclaimed.

"TELL US!" Sola exclaimed.

"Point and pull!" Phill yelled.

Immediately almost everyone on the Lugias pointed in his direction, causing his eyes to widen, while the Ho-Ohs pointed randomly.

"Oh no…"

Phill was promptly zapped, surprising the Ho-Ohs.

"Mother of Arceus what did you fucks do?!" Sabrina exclaimed.

"We took out a threat," Shine replied with small smirk. "I mean, what else is there to do? One of the teams has to win."

"Oh ho, looks like the weak wife is finally showing some backbone," Aspen said insultingly.

"What'd you say, bitch?" Shine asked, tightening her glare.

"You heard me," Aspen teased. "You're a Psychic-type, and you let your husband fuck another girl and get her pregnant. And you're making him take care of the kid? That's the weakest, slow-witted shit I've ever heard of."

"Uh, I'm sorry. Who are you, again?" Sola asked, chiming in. "We barely know you, so how the hell do you know her business?"

"A little birdie told me…" Aspen replied innocently.

"More like a fat slut told you," Shine replied, knowing that Aura had something to do with her knowledge. "And for your information, I wasn't in the competition when that happened, so I COULDN'T do anything!"

"Again, you're a PSYCHIC-TYPE. You couldn't make a barrier around his junk or something?" Aspen asked. "Or did you want it to happen so that you can actually have a child to love?"

"Whoa…" Titan said, hearing that. "Now, Lassie, that's a bit too far."

"Yeah, you probably don't even a man, so what gives you the right to talk?!" Sally asked.

"For your information, I DO have a man, and if another bitch got attracted and tried to fuck him and get pregnant, I'd kick her ass, threaten her life, and if she succeeded, make sure that he has no contact."

There was silence for a while, as Shine simply glared at Aspen.

"Well...I can kinda see where she's coming from in that aspect," Marie chimed in, breaking the silence. "But blaming Shine for something out of her control is complete bullshit!"

"Oh please," Aspen muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Don't you just love how we just got back and shit's already hitting the fan for our social lives with each other?" Klavier asked out of nowhere, causing everyone to look to him, and then to each other.

The beeping was heard again, and almost everyone clenched a part of their body in hopes of not being chosen. After a few more seconds, Freezeo and Amethyst glowed.

"OH COME ON!" Freezeo exclaimed, while Amethyst gasped and trembled slightly.

" _Who among you often dreams of murder?_ " the voice asked. " _A) Clay, B) Cano, C) Sparky D) Summer."_

The brothers exchanged looks of unsurety, Summer glared, and Clay kept his same expression. "

"Uh...B) Cano?" Freezeo answered, unsure.

"Uh...B-B?" Amethyst questioned, causing the Arcanine to raise a brow.

His name glowed red, while Clay's name glowed green, signaling, that he was the correct answer.

"W-Wai-"

Both Freezeo and Amethyst were zapped; shortly after they were teleported out of the room.

Cano chuckled to himself. "Goes to show that you can't just assume based on family…"

"Oh hush, you all have the same blood. Just because you don't have the same dreams an thoughts doesn't mean you don't or won't have the same tendencies…" Lassie said, folding her arms.

"Maybe, maybe not," Sparky said with a shrug. "Guess you're gonna have to stay on our good sides to avoid finding out, huh?"

Everyone turned to him in surprise, seeing his serious glare.

"Is that a threat?" asked Egridos.

"The fact that you even asked that causes concern for me…" Sparky replied, giving him a look.

"One of your brothers is a killer and the other is psychotic! How the hell are we suppose to think you two act!?" Anthony exclaimed. "Like puppies?!"

"Nope. Meat of Cano's size is definitely not suitable or normal for a pup," Macey said, licking her lips as she wrote in her journal.

Cano was disturbed to hear that, as were a few others, excluding Vixen, who just blushed. "I don't know whether to be flattered or scared," the Arcanine said, eyeing the Gourgeist next to him with wary eyes.

"No need to be scared, daddy," she said. "I'm just happy to be in your presence!"

"Uh...and why is that!?" asked Vixen through grit teeth, fur raised in anger.

"Because he's my only seme here!" Macey said cheerily. "All of my other ones were in the All-Star season, and there's nothing but ukes around, well, other than Anthony and...Sparky, but they're not as impressive in girth!"

"Can someone explain what this crazy gal is on about?" asked Titan.

Brian, Taylor, Ace, and Pia all exchanged looks of displeasure.

"You do not wish to know," Brian said, shuddering.

"Yeah, it's uh...it's a bit disturbing," Taylor added.

"There's no conspiracy dealing with what she's got going on in _her_ mind," Pia said. "At least, I think there isn't…"

"Oh please, it couldn't be that bad," Carson said.

"Alright, if you say so…" Taylor replied with a sigh. "Hey twinkie!" he shouted, getting Ace's attention. The Sylveon glared at the Milotic. "Why don't you explain it?"

"And why won't you explain yourself?!" Ace exclaimed. "I mean, why Au-"

"Okay! Jeez. I take back the twink comment, just explain," Taylor replied.

Ace growled. "Fine. A seme is the top in a gay relationship and the uke is the bottom…"

All of the guys' eyes widened, including the three Macey claimed to be semes. The Gourgeist giggled. "Yep. I can tell who is a uke just based on personality and looks!"

Every guy, minus Ace, Taylor, and Brian, stared at her, as well as some of the girls.

The humming started and immediately everyone pointed at her, causing her to be zapped.

"And thus another one bites the dust," said Klavier.

"We're gonna be here forever," Skore commented. "We've lost ten whole people; five from each team."

"Ugh, this is so stupid!" Morgan growled.

"Okay, can the people who don't give a fuck about this just leave?" Kojo asked.

"Why the hell would you want that?!" Sally questioned with a glare.

"Because we're obviously not gonna get anywhere and we're just gonna keep arguing and talking about bullshit that only impacts a select few people!" Kojo explained. "Like seriously? Who gives a fuck about each others' private lives that much!?"

"Nobody's quitting!" Morgan exclaimed.

"So, you're willing to just stand here until you get voted for or you get a question wrong?" Kojo asked. "That's what you're telling me?"

"Better than quitting!"

"HA!" Kojo laughed mockingly.

"If you quit, you're putting yourself up for elimination," said Vixen.

Kojo gasped. "Oh my Arceus, you're threatening me with...with FREEDOM!? How dare you…" he said sarcastically, folding his arms.

The humming started again and they all started voting.

Pretty soon, Sparky was zapped, knocking him out. It was surprising to a few others, but it was easily brushed off as he was teleported out.

"Well...that happened," Reta said. "How you feeling, Luna?"

"I'm fine," Luna said stoically, her eyebrows furrowed in a glare.

"Okay, just checking," Reta replied.

"Reta, no one gives a fuck," Lassie stated, passing an annoyed glare at the Furret. "He's out of this challenge. Boo-hoo. It's not like he's gone forever."

"Okay, and what if this was all real and we actually died from this, like I'm presuming the people did in the movie. Would you be upset then?"

Everyone immediately gave her a look of frustration.

"What kind of question is that?" Skore asked tonelessly. "Of course we'd be upset and scared out of our minds if this BS was real! You didn't even need to ask that!"

"Piff's not here, so you have nothing to worry about," Reta replied rather ignorantly, as many of the others gaped or tightened their glares at her.

"So, now you're insinuating that we don't care about others?" Vixen questioned.

"Vixen, from what's happened regarding you, it's obvious that you care a bit TOO much, so I suggest you keep your mouth closed before a guy sticks a rod in it and you don't fight back," Anthony suggested, folding his arms, causing Vixen's eyes to widen as she snarled, as did Cano.

"Geez, everyone keeps coming for Vixen," Sola said. "She made a fucking mistake and it wasn't even in her control any of the times! Get the hell over it!"

"And this is coming from the sister of two jackasses and the wife of a psycho, how precious," Aspen commented.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"

"Okay, everyone CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" Summer roared, her flames erupting from her neck. This got everyone's attention, albeit negatively. "Don't you see that these fucks are just trying to stir up more drama already?"

"Klavier already mentioned that," Sabrina replied with a neutral expression.

"Well it's true," Summer retorted. "We need to learn how to shut the hell up around each other! I don't even know this shit got started."

"These questions, as well as what we know about each other that we can make fun of out of anger," Dhaunt said with a shrug.

"Why don't we all just stay quiet?" asked Annie. "That way we don't piss each other of as much."

"Oh yes, staying quiet will surely keep things from getting worse for us," Farra replied, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly, the beeping was heard as they all looked around at each other. Morgan and Marion's bodies glowed.

"This is stupid," Morgan muttered, while Marion folded her arms.

" _Who among you has robbed a bank using a cereal spoon, only to be arrested seconds later?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Connor, B) Striker, C) Titan, D) Carson."_

"How the hell do you rob something with a cereal spoon?" Marie asked. "What bank is dumb enough to let that happen?"

"Hmm… Titan," Morgan answered.

"Carson?" Marion answered questioningly.

After a while, Carson's name lit up green, surprising Morgan, who got zapped.

 **000**

Morgan was teleported into a cage, where the others who were zapped ended up. She looked around tentatively, before looking out and seeing Mew playing a GameBoy while in a oscillating chair, and Victini watching a large screen, while wearing earphones, that showed everyone still in the circle.

"What the hell is this?!" she bellowed. "Why are we in a cage?!"

Victini didn't even acknowledge her, as he was too busy looking and listening to what was being said and done. Mew, on the other hand, turned to her and the others.

"Like I told the others, he put a cage for you all because you're all underdogs, therefore lesser beings in this competition," Mew responded nonchalantly. "Some of you don't even need to be in this season, but that's what he said."

"Why the heck are you so nonchalant and uncaring now?!" asked Chlotz. "You used to be happy and actually a bit cool!"

"Hey, I'm not trying to be!" Mew exclaimed . "Yes, I'm usually the main host or co-host, but I didn't even want this season to happen! If I don't really want it, then would I host it?"

"To keep bullshit like _this_ from happening!" Freezeo exclaimed disgruntledly, looking at the iron bars of the cage. "Couldn't we just go back to the cabins if we got eliminated?!"

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Aura inquired in a tight tone, peering around the environment they all were in. It was completely made of metal, with old, rusted nuts and bolts sticking out in numerous corners.

"You're in a room," Mew replied blankly.

"Wow, never thought about that," Fez said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, Clay was teleported into the cage, landing on Rapid, who groaned.

"Ugh. This challenge is the lamest thing ever!" Sparky groaned.

"You don't think I know that?" Mew questioned, floating over to them. "The only reason he decided to do this challenge is to get some hate and personal biases and life information out in the open."

"Why didn't you guys give us an actual physical challenge instead and do this later when there are less of us?!"

"Blame Victini," Mew responded. "He orchestrated this challenge. It's his lack of sense that's guiding these challenges, so just bare with it for a while. I'll end up doing more sooner or later."

"Hopefully sooner," Frosty commented.

"Alright...time to kick this up a notch," Victini said as he pressed a button beside the screen.

 **000**

The remaining thirty-one players were standing around in silence, none of them wanting to further any dispute or cause any more arguments. They've learned at this point that arguing would get them nowhere since only one person from one of the teams would be left.

That was when Victini decided to kick it up a notch. Suddenly, all of the circles that were vacant disappeared, bringing them closer together.

Sabrina sighed. "Is this a sign now or something?"

"A sign of what? Our impending doom?" Striker asked emotionlessly.

Suddenly, a few beeps were heard and Brian, Cano, Ace, and Sally's bodies began to glow. This caused a bit of confusion and agitation as some realized what was starting to happen.

"Welp, let the bullshit commence," Cano mumbled.

" _Who among you is living with a millionaire?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Shine, B) Taylor, C) Carson, D) Aspen._ "

"Aspen," Sally said with absolutely no hesitation.

"Yep," Cano said, nodding in agreement.

"Uh...I honestly don't know, but I know that Taylor isn't rich so he's out. Uh...I guess Carson?" Ace answered unsurely.

"I will choose the bell as well because of unlikeliness!" Brian announced.

Carson's name glowed green.

"Wait, what?!" Sally exclaimed before she and Cano were promptly zapped.

Silence filled the room yet again as Cano and Sally were teleported out of the room. Carson didn't think that information was a big deal, but apparently it was 'juicy' enough to be included.

"So, uh...Carson, right?" Taylor started, turning in his direction. "Who do you live with?"

"Does it matter?" Egridos inquired. "It's obvious that he or she isn't here."

"Hey, I'm new. I'm just curious," Taylor retorted before flipping his 'hair' back.

Carson sighed softly after a while. "His name's Kyle, he's a Swampert; he competed in this show, too, but he's not in this season."

"Wait, wait...KYLE is a millionaire now?!" Skore exclaimed in astonishment. "How and when the hell did this happen!?"

"Yeah! Ask him to send a couple of quarters our way!" Striker added, bewildered.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Carson replied with a shrug.

"Who cares about who's rich?" asked Klavier. "We're all still in this stupid game, so none of that shit matters."

"It does when it comes to deciding who stays and who goes," Luna said ominously, giving him a stern glower.

"Uh, what are you getting at, mutt?" Aspen asked apprehensively, glowering at the Mightyena.

"I'm not getting at anything, _bitch_ ," Luna growled. "I'm just saying that if you're rich already, you don't deserve any more unless you're consistently working for it."

"Oh, and being tortured and competing in a shit show isn't considered work to you?" Anthony inquired.

"Are you fucking rich? Because if you're not, it doesn't fucking apply to you!"

"If you're rich, it doesn't matter," Cramad stated. "Everyone has equal opportunity in this game."

"Ha! That's amusing," Taylor commented. "Last time I checked, this game was about screwing over the other guys for our own personal gain."

"We make it that way," Marie responded. "It doesn't have to be."

"Yes it does," Taylor retorted immediately. "How else does the game move forward?"

The humming immediately started up after that and they all started plugging in their votes. Once the humming ceased, Taylor was zapped.

 **000**

Taylor huffed as he was teleported into the cage. "Fucking weak-minded fools. For veterans, you guys sure are morons."

"Hey, you wanna stay in the game longer, you don't insult our status," Morgan threatened.

"Typical," Taylor said, rolling his eyes. "Someone calls you out on your Rapidash-shit tactics and thought processes and you immediately reply with threats of elimination. Good job."

"And how far did you make it in your season, exactly?" Cano prodded.

"That's none of your concern," Taylor retorted. "Didn't watch? Fuck off."

The other veterans tightened their glares at the Milotic.

 **000**

"Can we please stop talking about shit and wait this out?" asked Marion.

"Hey, good job with not following your own request," Anthony retorted.

"Do you take pleasure in annoying everyone?" Marie questioned with a glower. "Because that's all you do every time you speak."

"Not my fault you people make idiotic statements and judgment calls," Anthony replied. "Deal with it."

"You can go royally fuck yourself, asshole," Farra remarked aggressively.

"Oh hush, stalker," Anthony replied, waving her comment away.

"Y'see what you started?" Lassie muttered, eyeing Marion, who rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Suddenly, the beeping started again and everyone got quiet; some folding their arms in anticipation.

Klavier, Summer, Sola, and Egridos were the ones chosen to answer; none of them showed any real concern other than Klavier, who sighed.

" _Who among you has a foot fetish?"_ the voice asked, causing almost everyone to blanch from surprise.

"What kind of-"

" _A) Connor, B) Dhaunt, C) Kojo, D) Anthony."_

Almost everyone turned to the ones whose names were called. Anthony had a stoic expression, Kojo yawned, Connor blushed, but looked from side to side nervously, and Dhaunt was fiddling with his hands.

"Uh...Connor?" Egridos answered.

"Yeah, I guess it's Connor since he's the one blushing," Klavier said.

"Uh...yeah, I suppose so," Sola said, really unsure.

"I'm guessing Kojo," Summer said, folding her arms. "Connor doesn't seem like he has those kind of _kinks_. No offense."

"None taken," Connor chirped, laughing sheepishly.

Kojo's name glowed green and he shrugged.

"Wait-"

Klavier, Sola, and Egridos were zapped and teleported out.

"Alright, eleven more to go and we win, mates," Titan said.

"Yep, so everyone, vote together and we'll be able to get out of here faster!" Annie suggested.

"Start with Reta," Sabrina suggested.

"WHAT?!"

"Whoa whoa, you guys better be careful. These questions can ruin your little plan," Vixen urged.

"We'll have to see, now won't we?" asked Lassie as the humming began.

The Ho-Ohs all pointed to Reta, which ultimately led to her being zapped.

"Alright, that's ten left now," Anthony said. "This is suddenly much more fun."

"Just you wait until the questions come, you'll be taking that back. I'm sure of it," Shine said.

A few seconds later, beeping was heard, signifying that the questions were coming already.

"Wait, this is faster," said Carson. "I thought it took about two minutes or s-"

Suddenly, he, Ashton, Brian, and Pia started glowing, causing him to groan. "Crud…"

" _Who among you has an addiction to porn?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Connor, B) Ace, C) Anthony, D) Farra._ "

"Three guys and one girl, huh?" Pia questioned. "I smell a conspiracy afoot! The girls are-"

"Well, if Connor has no foot fetish, that excludes him," Carson said, interrupting her. "Well, sorry if this is wrong, but I'm gonna guess Farra because of her obsession with Striker."

"Yeah, I second that notion," Ashton followed, nodding in agreement.

"It has to be the girly-boy!" Pia said. "The Porn Peek Conspiracy states that if a male is in a stable relationship, they will still occasionally view porn in an attempt to either escape reality or spice up their love lives. Despite single men or women who view porn are often the most humorous, but often aggressive as well due to being pent up. And those who are homosexual watch or rely on it the most because the government injected them with-"

"ANTHONY!" Brian suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Pia.

Farra's name glowed, and Brian and Pia were zapped and teleported out.

"Well, well, well...what do you know?" Shine prodded. "Looks like I was right."

"Alright, Demon's Wife next," Anthony said, irked. "It's still twelve to ten, so you're fucked."

Shine glowered at him. It was a shame that moves didn't work in there.

The humming started almost instantly, taking majority of them by surprise as they started voting quickly. When the humming ended, Shine was zapped.

"Okay, this is going a bit too fast now," Summer commented, looking around exasperatedly.

"Who the hell cares? We all want this boring shit to be over! My legs are killing me!" Anthony exclaimed.

Majority of the others nodded and muttered in agreement, while others gave the Blastoise looks of pity.

"Uh, you realize that you could sit down, right mate?" Titan questioned.

"Yeah, as long as you stay in your circle, you're good," Dhaunt added.

The beeping started to kick up.

"Oh for fuck sake," Vixen muttered as she looked around the remaining twenty-one in the circle.

Skore, Ashton, Aspen, and Dhaunt were chosen to answer.

" _How many of you remaining are married, counting individuals?"_ the voice asked. " _A) 7, B) 6, C) 9 D) 14."_

"Wait, what does counting individuals mean?" asked Aspen.

"It means that a couple counts as two people that are married," Skore explained as he looked around at who all was left. "Hmm. Titan, Cramad, are you guys married?"

"N-" Titan didn't get to finish as he was zapped, causing shock among the others.

"Wait, can we not ask for help?!" Ashton questioned.

"Why do you think most of us have been quiet this whole time? You should know by now that these fucks won't let that happen!" Anthony said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh...he started saying no, so I'm just gonna say 6," said Dhaunt.

"I'm going 7," said Ashton.

"I don't know nor do I care, so I'm just gonna say 7, too," Aspen added.

"Hmm, I'm gonna say 9," Skore answered, unsure on whether or not he wanted to go with Aspen and Ashton's answers.

The number 7 glowed green, resulting in Skore and Dhaunt being zapped.

The remaining players for the Ho-Ohs were Aspen, Annie, Luna, Marie, Summer, Lassie, Cramad, Marion, Sabrina, and Anthony. For the Lugias, Ace, Ashton, Striker, Vixen, Farra, Connor, Carson, and Kojo were left. Eighteen left in all.

"Remarkable how there's only one guy left on you guys' side," said Kojo.

"The fact that it's Anthony doesn't mean anything," Marie said, folding her arms.

"Hey! I'm smart; just because you people get annoyed by me doesn't mean I'm not," Anthony replied. "Plus, we still have the advantage. I say that we go for Vixen next."

"What!? Why me!?"

"You know that in this challenge there's no real discernable reason for any of this shit, right Vix?" Luna asked

Vixen gaped.

 **000**

"It's still dwindling down," Klavier said with a sigh. "Can you just do a mass zapping or something so that we can get this over with?"

"And we can get out of this fucking cage!" Sally blustered.

Vixen was teleported into the cage, landing on the ground with a _THUD_. She growled. "Jackasses…"

"Well, it's safe to assume that we're thoroughly screwed," Chlotz said, eyeing the large screen and seeing the small amount of players the Lugias had left.

"Hey, there's always hope that their girls mess up on the questions," Frosty replied.

"I doubt that they will," Dhaunt commented.

 **000**

" _Who has thought about cheating on their spouse after meeting someone else once?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Ashton, B) Aspen, C) Ace, D) Luna_."

Sabrina, Summer, Kojo, and Farra were the ones who had to answer.

"Hmm...well, three of them are nice or seem nice, so I'm gonna go with Aspen…" said Summer.

"Aspen."

"Aspen."

"Aspen."

Aspen growled.

After a few seconds, Aspen's name glowed and she was zapped shortly after.

"Yep, that was probably the easier one," Kojo said with a shrug.

The beeping kicked up once again a few seconds after, but this time, Luna, Lassie, Ashton, and Carson had to answer.

" _Who has performed fellatio on their spouse more than 10 times within a week?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Kojo, B) Ace, C) Marion, D) Cramad."_

"I'm concerned about that relationship if that's all you do in your down time," Lassie remarked. "But, I know that Marion isn't it, sorry for the reveal. Cramad, I'm not confident. Kojo is an actor, and those guys are usually swimming in pussy, so I'm just gonna say Kojo."

"No offense, but I'm gonna say Ace," said Carson.

"Kojo," said Luna.

"Uh...Kojo just doesn't look like that kind of guy," Ashton said. "No offense Ace, but I'm gonna say you."

Ace blushed, as his name glowed green after they all answered. "Yes! Dream Team!" Carson said as he and Ashton high-appendaged.

"Son of a-"

Luna and Lassie were both zapped.

 **000**

"That dirty slutboy has been constantly fucking my son for a whole week?!" Aura growled.

"Oh shut the hell up. I'm sure you've done way more in your teenage years," Shine remarked with a glare.

"More than you've ever done with Shade," Aura replied, causing Shine's fur to rise in anger.

"Okay, let's not start this," said Sola, getting between the two of them. "It's been years…"

"Not my fault that bitch annoys the fuck out of me!" Shine growled.

"Not my fault your man pounded this ass and actually got me pregnant."

"YOU RAPED HIM!" Shine roared as she pounced on her and the two proceeded to fight.

"And here we go again," said Sola groaned.

Frosty and Freezeo used Frost Breath, freezing both of them in place in order to stop it.

"Nice work," said Fez.

Suddenly, Ashton and Summer were teleported into the cage, with Ashton landing on Rapid and Summer landing on Cano's back.

"What the hell was that?!" Summer roared as she got back on her feet. "Why'd two of us get out?!"

"Because Victini's upping the pressure," said Mew. "So, now larger groups are being zapped. And that means the challenge will get down faster."

"I find it ironic how he left in the middle of our season because he was bored, but he's making boring challenges himself," Taylor commented.

"That's Victini being Victini…" Mew replied with shrug.

Just then, Annie, Striker, and Marion were dropped into the cage, having gotten a question wrong.

"How the heck were we supposed to know who's aborted two kids?!" Striker exclaimed as he landed on the ground.

"WowIthoughtHopewastheonlyonewhoaborted," Rapid said with a tinge of curiosity in his voice.

"Apparently Sabrina did, too," Marion revealed as she dusted herself off.

Everyone immediately turned to Fez, who didn't look all that surprised.

"What?" he asked. "I wasn't gonna talk her out of it if that's what she wanted."

"So you just let her kill-"

"Okay, can we not get topical?" asked Reta. "I think there's a limit…"

"Nope, this game has no limit, you should know this by now," Egridos replied. "They've allowed practical rape, domestic violence, child abuse…"

"Okay, back to the game…" Mew said, interrupting him.

 **000**

Cramad, Sabrina, Marie, and Anthony were left for the Ho-Ohs, and Ace, Carson, Kojo, Connor, and Farra were left for the Lugias.

"Alright, this is just stupid at this point," Sabrina squawked.

"Hey, this is the most boring challenge in the history of this show, plus we're on _this show_ ," Anthony replied. "Of course this is stupid."

"And the tables have turned, huh?" Kojo said mockingly.

The humming started up again as the Ho-Ohs exchanged glances. After a while, Anthony and Kojo were zapped and teleported away.

"Well, this stinks," Cramad commented as she stood around the now small circle with the others.

Beeping started up again, causing them all to groan.

"What awful personal bullshit is gonna be brought up this time?" Marie groaned.

She, Carson, Cramad, and Ace started to glow

" _Who among you has never had a stable relationship?"_ the voice asked. " _A) Connor, B) Sabrina, C) Farra."_

"Crap. It's between Farra and Connor," Marie commented. "I'm just gonna guess Connor. Timidness makes it hard."

"Connor," Carson answered.

"Uh...Farra," Cramad said. "She stalks Striker, so I don't think any other guy would be attracted to that."

"Okay...based on that information, I guess I'll go Farra, too," Ace said with a shrug. "I wouldn't be with someone who's obsessed with someone else."

After a few seconds, Connor's name glowed.

"Wait...you actually had a boyfriend before?" Cramad questioned, completely taken aback.

She and Ace were zapped, teleporting them out before she could even get a reply. Farra huffed. "I had a boyfriend for about three months when I was getting over Striker. I continued just hanging out with him, Ded, and everyone else, and he thought that I was slutting around, so he dumped me."

"Damn," Marie commented. "Well, that just let you know what type of guy he was."

Farra sighed before shrugging. "It's fine. At least I have some friends."

"That's the spirit!" Carson cheered as the humming started again. "Oh boy, here we go again."

Sabrina and Connor both ended getting zapped in that round, leaving just Marie for the Ho-Ohs.

"AND THE LUGIAS WIN!" they heard Victini announce into the room. Carson and Farra cheered, while Marie was confused and angry.

 **000**

The three of them were teleported into the room where everyone else was, where they discovered that they were all inside of a cage. Immediately upon seeing the cage, they exchanged skeptical expressions.

"Uh...why are you guys in a cage?" asked Carson.

"VICTINI!" Marie roared as the fox floated over with a smirk. "What the hell was that!? A question round would've been next! I still had a chance!"

"Actually no, I had fluctuated with the order a bit, so another vote would have been next…" Victini explained with a devious smirk.

"YOU JACKASS!" Summer exclaimed. "YOU RIGGED THIS?!"

"No, the rounds started going by faster and I shuffled up the order, it just so happened that another vote was coming up right after it. There were two question rounds in a row earlier on remember? Don't get mad at me. Luck just took a shit on the Ho-Ohs."

All of the Ho-Ohs growled in annoyance.

"We'll see you guys at elimination tonight," Mew said stoically as he teleported the cage away.

 **000**

A decent amount of the Ho-Ohs met up on beach, as per Marie's request. The only ones present were Anthony, Sabrina, Klavier, Fez, Lassie, Summer, Dhaunt, Marion, Phill, and Annie

"Alright, who do guys think we should vote for?" Marie asked the group.

"I say we go for the jugular and vote the tiger mutt out first," Anthony suggested. "There's no point in risking our sanity if he starts acting like his psycho brothers. Plus, he's made it far enough. He got second place in the first season."

"That's a good point," Fez started. "But if you think about it, knowing this game, we're gonna need savagery or as much strength and sense we can get, so I think he stay for just a little while longer."

"I agree with Fez," Lassie spoke. "I'm fine with getting him out early, but I think we need a fair judgment call first. If we find out that he's pretty useless in the next few challenges, then yes, we kick him to the curb."

"That sounds doable," Marie said. "Okay, we have Cano as a target for later. What do we do for today, though?"

"Uh, shouldn't we at least let him know that he needs to prove himself?" Phill asked.

"I honestly doubt that he even gives a fuck about being here, Dhaunt replied. "There's no need."

"I say we get rid of Aspen or Aura," Annie spoke up. "I don't think either of them will really offer much help."

"Yeah, she's right. All Aura's done throughout her time on the show is be a slut and hate Shine," Sabrina remarked. "And I barely even know what Aspen is capable of. But based on what she said in the challenge, she is just a dumb, ignorant bitch."

"What about the conspiracy freak?" Anthony questioned. "We can get rid of her. What good is talking about conspiracies?"

"We don't know her physical strengths…" Summer replied, glowering at him. "Plus, she's a Hypno, there's a lot we can do with her!"

Anthony rolled his eyes.

"We can vote Rapid. I mean, he was the only one to really jump off of his circle," Klavier suggested sheepishly.

"The guy has ADHD, he can't help it," Annie countered. "You never know what he's good for."

"Tiny dancer, that phrase can go to any fucking person in this game," Anthony replied.

"Well it's still not a good idea in my book," she stated sternly.

Marie groaned. "This is gonna be tougher than I thought," she mumbled to herself.

 **000**

Rapid, Reta, Chlotz, Pia, Freezeo, and Sally were sitting at the mess gazebo beside the cabins.

"So, who are you guys voting for?" asked Sally.

"I'm not so sure," Freezeo replied. "There's a lot to think about."

"I say just vote for the Furfrou and call it a day," said Chlotz. "She reminds me of Karen a bit, which isn't a good thing."

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Rapid replied, nodding vigorously as his tail swished excitedly.

"Well, I suppose that's an option; she does seem pretty useless," Freezeo replied.

"That's the perfect way to think about it," Reta said. "Just vote for the most useless ones first and work your way up."

"I guess that'll work," Freezeo replied.

"There's a conspiracy about that idea-"

"Pia. No one cares!" Chlotz exclaimed, getting very annoyed.

"HO-OHS! MEET US AT THE FRONT BEACH! IT'S ELIMINATION TIME!"

"Front beach?" asked Rapid.

"I didn't know islands had fronts…" Freezeo said.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs all circulated the island until they found the two hosts floating idly. There was a bonfire created from sticks and and dry leaves surrounded by twenty-two different sized flat-topped stones.

The losing team gathered around the bonfire.

"Welcome to the first elimination of the season," Victini greeted. "How you all feeling?"

"Fuck you and fuck that shitty challenge!" Summer bellowed, glowering at the fox.

"Wonderful," Victini chirped, completely unfazed by the badger's anger. "Now, this elimination ceremony is gonna be pretty much the same as usual. You drop your votes into the voting box and just come back. And let me say this now. Sabotage will NOT be allowed in this part of the game."

Cheers of delight emanated from the Ho-Ohs before Mew finally shushed them. "And, in addition to that, there's not one, but TWO immunity idols hidden around this island. Find them and you're golden."

Everyone immediately exchanged wary, competitive glances.

"Now that we've gotten those rules out of the way, get voting!"

 **000**

Everyone was seen slipping in their votes, none of them wanting to do a real confessional.

 **000**

"Alright, the votes have been tallied," said Victini. "You all should know the drill by now. And this season, you won't be getting anything because well...you guys are underdogs."

"Wow, you suck," Dhaunt huffed, folding his arms.

"And you swallow," Victini replied. "Annie, Anthony, Summer, Freezeo, Marion, Dhaunt, and Phill, you all are safe."

They all either remained silent or let out sighs of relief.

"Brian, Pia, Luna, Klavier, Fez, Sabrina, Titan, and Cramad," Victini continued. "Lassie and Marie, you two are good, too.

Cano, Clay, Aura, Aspen, and Rapid remained. Aura and Aspen both had angry expressions, Cano was nonchalant, Clay get his same smile, and Rapid felt nervous.

"Rapid, Cano, and Aspen, you three are safe, too."

"Awesome!" Rapid cheered.

"I'd better been safe. You losers would've been lost without me…" Aspen huffed

"We still lost this challenge with you on the team. Hush," Cano growled, glaring at her. Aspen glared back in aggravation.

"Clay, Aura, you two are in the bottom tonight. Pretty unsurprising in some ways," Victini commented as Mew rolled his eyes. "Clay, from what we've seen from you in the past seasons you've been in, as well as new info uncovered in today's challenge, you're a definite risk and very creepy. Aura, it seems that others still hold resentment for you for what you did to Shade and your disrespect towards his wife, which is a pretty dumb thing since it was years ago."

"THANK YOU!" Aura exclaimed.

"But, nevertheless, the first person eliminated this season is…

…

…

…

…

…

...

…

...Clay!"

The Sudowoodo twitched and his usual grin turned into a grimace. "NO! NOT FIRST!"

"Whoa, is he actually talking no-" Klavier started.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! YOU ALL WILL PAY!" Clay shouted as he ran into the forest.

Everyone immediately turned to the hosts.

"Well, he's out of the game, not sure what running in the forest will do," Victini said.

"Uh...shouldn't you go GET HIM?!" Sabrina exclaimed, a bit nervous.

"Yeah, uh, if he thinks about murder, I don't think I'm gonna be comfortable knowing that he;s still around somewhere," Annie said shakily.

"You people are invincible. You'll be fine," Victini said carelessly. "Now head back to your loser cabins."

The Ho-Ohs exchanged unsure glances, but started heading back to the campgrounds. When they left, Victini chuckled.

"This season is gonna be great!" he cheered. "It sucks we didn't get to reveal this season's elimination method, but having Clay on the loose will be even better!"

"You take way too much pleasure in this…" Mew remarked.

"And you used to as well. I dunno what happened, but you're boring now," Victini responded, patting his back patronizingly.

"I'm NOT boring. That challenge you had them do today. THAT was boring!" Mew bellowed.

"Duh. I told you that I wanted to stir up some early tension, and this challenge was the perfect way to do it," Victini explained. "Now, we just wait for the chaos that occurs this season."

Mew sighed, but couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "So what's the next challenge?"

"Oh, it's another throwback to a favorite challenge place of mine," Victini chuckled. "They're definitely gonna hate it."

"Of course," Mew said, rolling his eyes.

 **000**

 **And there we have it! Clay's the first one eliminated. But, he's still on the island. Oh boy. This was mainly just a chap for things to be revealed and for a bit of info about campers to get out there. Sorry for the lack of action. But, don't worry, there's definitely gonna be more interesting things happening in the future. I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE**

 **P.S.: The movie that this challenge was based off of is on Netflix, just type in 'Circle'. Give it a watch if you want.**


	3. Jail Broken

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs! The forty-four contestants had to survive with each other in a room in a recreation of a movie. As time went on, things got tense, secrets were exposed, and other information was brought up that just made you say...what the hell? In the end, the Lugias were victorious, and due to his consistent creepiness in other seasons, and a revelation in the challenge, Clay was the first boot. However, he's still on the island, lurking.**

 **What's gonna happen this time? Find out now on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

After the revelation of his cheating, Sabrina had been doing everything in her power to stay away from Fez. She knew that they were on again-off again, but even so, she _still_ never truly slept with or got into a relationship with any other guy!

The fact that he lied to her about not being with any other girls when they separated really ruffled her feathers. She hated unfaithfulness. Ever since her parents got divorced because of her dad's constant cheating, she's been hesitant about being in relationships because of the risk. She and Fez would always end up breaking up over petty arguments; it was never anything serious. But this time around, they were going to stay broken up. She didn't want to deal with it.

She was standing at the edge of the cliff, gazing up at the night sky as the full moon bathed her in light. She sighed, leering down at the rocky terrain under her talons. She kicked a stone off of the cliff with resentment before spreading her wings and flying back to the cabins.

She could have sworn that she saw another flying-type heading to the cliff as she left. She hoped that it wasn't Fez and just continued onwards. She landed on the poorly constructed porch of the loser cabins, the wood creaking upon a single step being placed upon it, and entered through the left door, which was the girls' side.

Entering, she set her sights upon the shabby walls and floor of the cabin. There was a single, dim light hanging from the ceiling. There were eleven beds inside, three bunk beds on the left, two on the right, and a single bed against the back wall.

Currently, Aura and Luna were arguing about who should get the single bed while the other girls watched with contempt and annoyance. Summer and Marie, Pia and Annie, Marion and Lassie, and Aspen and Cramad had already occupied a few of the beds. There was still an empty bunk bed left, as well as the single bed, which caused confusion on Sabrina's part.

"Uh… What the hell is going on in here?" the Staraptor asked curtly.

After a moment of silence, Aspen decided to answer. "Well, Aura and the hyena from Lion King are currently debating on who gets the single bed."

Sabrina scoffed. "Seriously? There's two full beds right there!" she exclaimed, waving a wing toward the empty bunks.

"And you realize that we're dealing with two girls on opposite ends of the spectrum," Lassie remarked. "One is a man-stealing slut and the other has actually kept a man."

"You're married to a screaming moron, you don't have the right to judge!" Aura growled, glowering at the Snow Land Pokemon.

"At least my screaming moron is making us tons of money," Lassie countered as she pulled out a book. "Meanwhile, you're a single mother who has nothing but hate in your heart and skeletons in your closet."

"Hmph, well at least I'm-" creaking was heard, causing her to stop mid-sentence. She saw Luna lying on the single bed, wearing a sneer on her face. "Hey, bitch! Off the bed!"

"Ugh…" Summer groaned. "It literally DOESN'T matter! You're just sleeping there!"

"What makes you think that I want to sleep near any of you!?" Aura snapped venomously.

Annie sighed. "It's sad that, as grown women, we still have these kinds of stupid arguments and name calling."

"Annie, I don't think you realize that being grown up doesn't change jack shit," Marie started. "People can and will still say whatever, do whatever, and act however they want no matter the age."

"Hey, it's still sad," Sabrina spoke up as she flew on the top bunk on the last bunk bed.

"Get off, mutt!" Aura yelled at Luna, her eyes locked in a threatening glare. Luna wasn't fazed and just turned away from her.

"I'm not gonna argue with you," Luna replied emotionlessly, closing her eyes.

"Can't you two reach a compromise?" Marion questioned. "I mean, Aura, you and Aspen are pretty friendly to each other, why don't you two just bunk together?!"

"Yeah, that's fucking perfect! Cramad will bunk with Sabrina, Aura bunks with Aspen, and life in here isn't hell," Summer said flatly, glowering at the shiny Glaceon.

Aura huffed in annoyance. She wasn't going to be winning this argument, she just knew it. "Fine," she said in a taut tone as she stomped to Cramad's bed. The Parasect quickly scurried over to the bed underneath Sabrina's bunk and got back in the position she was in initially.

"Of course you all side with the nobody," Aspen remarked curtly as Aura got in the bed underneath hers.

"Aspen, don't start. This situation is handled," Marie said with a tight expression as she rolled over to face the wall of the cabin. "It's just a fucking bed."

"That's not the point. Instead of giving the mutt a different option as well so that neither won and the argument truly ended, you singled out poor Aura just because of her negative history!"

"Poor Aura? She's a slut!"

"Why? Because she had sex with two guys and got pregnant?" Aspen questioned condescendingly. "Oh no, she's a woman! How dare she?!"

"She raped another girl's husband and got pregnant by him!"

"Men can't get raped," Pia commented, bringing herself into the conversation. "That idea's just a ploy created by men to get out of fatherhood and to excuse them if they made a mistake sleeping with someone."

"Thank you!" Aura chirped. "Plus, it happened YEARS AGO! None of you were even fucking affected, and I don't even find any guys here attractive!"

"Okay," Summer said flatly. "We won't judge and make decisions based on your bullshit past, we'll do it based on your attitude and what you choose to do presently. Do you girls agree?"

There were conflicted expressions and mumbles from the other girls, but eventually they all agreed to give her a fair chance.

"Good, so, starting tomorrow, you'll have a 'clean slate'," Summer explained. "Pull any bullshit or start anything negative and you're gone. Got it?"

Aura glared. "Fine…"

"Good girl. Now, let's get some sleep," Summer suggested as she lied down. "Knowing these hosts, we're gonna have a challenge tomorrow, too."

Lassie turned off the lights and the girls started laying down to sleep.

 **000**

Fez re-entered the guys' side of the loser cabin with a scowl. Upon the door creaking open, the guys, who weren't asleep, turned to him concernedly.

The bird flew to an empty bunk above Phill and let out a sigh.

"So, I take it that you didn't find her," Freezeo inferred, judging by his expression.

The Unfezant gave him a look of vexation. "Of course not!" he hissed before his eyes darted to his pillow.

"Well, that's what happens when you cheat, mate," Titan concluded.

"Yeah, girls hate when guys cheat," Phill added, looking at the wooden bottom of the bed above him. "Why'd you cheat on her anyway?"

"WE WEREN'T TOGETHER!" Fez blustered before plopping on his bed, a wing draping over the side. "These beds feel like stone."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Anthony demurred. "What do you mean you weren't together? And if that's the case, why the hell is she upset?"

"Don't get me wrong," Fez continued. "It wasn't just when we weren't together. There were a couple of times when we were, but it was never that serious."

"Oh, then you're still the bad guy," Dhaunt opined. "If it had only been when you guys weren't together, then she would be in the wrong."

"Gee, thanks for that, Dhaunt," Fez responded sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you," Klavier began with a shrug of his shoulders. "You've fucked up majorly, dude."

"Don't you fucking start!" Fez exploded, hate spewing from the very fiber of his being, toward the Gliscor. "You've wanted to get into Sabrina's nest ever since second season! You've practically stalked her! You fucking kissed her under the mistletoe for FAR too long; you don't get to have an opinion!"

Everyone froze, eyes darting back and forth from the Unfezant and Gliscor, who were situated on opposite sides of the room. Fez continued glowering at Klavier, who had the same look of shock as the other guys. Eventually, his expression changed from one of shock, to one of hurt and sadness.

"Look, Fez. I couldn't help it back then," Klavier explained. "But, I no longer have feelings for her. I've moved on, and I'm sorry, but you just may have to do the same."

"FUCK NO!" Fez cursed. "I love her! You're just saying that shit so that you can have at her when I step back!"

"If you loved her, you wouldn't have cheated," Klavier murmured as he draped covers over himself.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Ugh… This is going to be a long night," Freezeo groaned.

 **000**

The next morning, the Lugias started to slowly awake inside of their large, luxurious log cabin. The cabin had a living room with velvet couches, a coffee table, and a big screen TV. There was a relatively average sized kitchen, a refrigerator, a stove and oven, and a microwave; there was also a counter, that was in the midway between the living room and kitchen, that held a few fruits. An air conditioner sat in a window in the living room.

There was a kitchen table on the side made of pure oak wood. The light that shined in through the window caused the wood to shine and glisten. A hallway led to the back, where there were four large rooms, each with six beds inside. In the backyard, there was a pool and a hot tub side-by-side. The steam from the hot tub was fogging up the back windows.

There were two bathrooms inside of the cabin, each being for a separate gender and both being large enough for multiple people, similar to a prison shower in a way.

 **-000-**

As light shined through a nearby window, Morgan's nose twitched and her eyes tightened as she rolled over, unsheathing and sinking her claws into the pillow under her head. The bed was as soft as a marshmallow and the sheets were like pure cotton wrapping around her. It reminded her of Hex and his soft fur and how she'd bury her face into it for more warmth. She didn't want to leave this spot.

Nearby, in a corner bed, Shine's eyes slowly opened. She'd dreamt about Shade holding her and allowing her to snuggle against him. The feeling of the cotton sheets wrapped around her paled in comparison to her husband's rough fur rubbing against her own. It was due to this that she had a bit of trouble sleeping last night. Sure, when Shade was competing in All-Stars she had to sleep without him, but she still had her sheets and his scent to comfort her. Here, it was just discomforting.

The Espeon stretched, the light from the window beside her causing her fur to shine brightly. As she finally got out of her bed, she looked around and saw that one of the beds, which was originally occupied by Vixen, was now empty. Raising a brow, she quickly made her bed, using kinesis to lift the covers and straighten them out before placing them back on the bed.

She glanced back over to the bed to the left of Sola's before looking at the Absol's bed. She padded over to her bed, where the covers were draped over her completely. Shine drew the covers back from the head of the bed, only to see hind legs and tail in 'spread eagle' fashion.

She sighed and pulled the covers back over her hindquarters before drawing the covers back from the foot of the bed, showing the snoozing Absol's face.

"Sola," Shine whispered, not wanting to wake Morgan on the opposite side. "Sooola," she prodded, shaking her a bit.

The Absol purred as a smile appeared on her face. "Daddy~"

Shine twitched. It was obvious that she wasn't going to be much of any help. She decided to just find Vixen herself. She knew that the Ninetales wasn't one to awaken early due to the number of vacations and 'Girls' Nights' they've all been on together, so she had a feeling that something was up.

She exited the room just as Ashton, Amethyst, and Holly exited their own room.

"Morning girls," Shine greeted. "Uh, have any of you seen Vixen by any chance?"

"Um...no," Holly replied. "Sorry."

"Yeah, but is there something wrong?" asked Ashton.

"No, I'm just wondering since she wasn't in bed this morning," Shine explained. "She doesn't usually get up early."

"Well, I'm sure she's fine," Holly assured. "Where could she really go on this island?"

"Hmm… There _is_ a volcano," Shine mused, looking down at the ground momentarily. "Alright, thanks."

Ashton nodded as she, Holly, and Amethyst headed to the kitchen. As they did, Shine sighed before she heard the sound of sliding coming from inside of their room. Re-entering, she saw Vixen entering the room through the window before looking back out momentarily. She then closed the window and turned back around before seeing Shine staring at her like a pissed off wife.

"Uh...heeeey," Vixen greeted sheepishly.

Shine looked out the window momentarily and saw a bit of orange and black walk away, so she knew where she went. She sighed. "Vixen, you're a grown woman, if you want to go get Cano's bone buried in you, all you have to do is walk out the door and let us know. No need to sneak out."

"He's on the other team. I don't know how the others will react…"

"You two are married, and we're all adults. It doesn't matter," Shine replied.

Vixen blushed with a shrug as Shine sighed.

 **-000-**

While that situation was happening, the guys were beginning to wake up as well. Ace was initially, unluckily, in a room with Taylor, but he also had Connor, Chlotz, Sparky, and Egridos, which honestly didn't make it any better.

 **-000-**

Ace had been the first one to jump into a bed when they went into the cabin, so when the others filled in the other beds, he was pretty much trapped, as he didn't want to make them dislike him or think of him in a negative light. Well, he could care less about how Taylor felt and he knew how Chlotz was already, but he barely knew the other three.

He had a pillow covering his head due to the insufferable annoyance he felt last night. Chlotz and Taylor got into an argument because of their fake relationship, but neither decided to just leave the room to prevent the situation, Connor's snoring was the equivalent of a low-flying plane, Sparky stayed up eating snacks and constantly opened and closed the door each time he left to get more or use the bathroom, and Egridos just kept yelling 'FOURTH WALL' in every ample opportunity.

He had to get out, not caring about how they felt anymore, so when he was sure the others were sound asleep, he snuck out of his bed and crouched over to the door, using one of his ribbons to open it. Once it was open, he snuck out and padded to the other guys' room. The door was already partially cracked, so he was able to peek and listen inside.

Hearing nothing but the sound of breathing, he sighed in relief. Slowly pushing the door open a bit more, he looked around and saw a vacant bed in the back left corner beside Kojo's bed. He entered, closing the door until it was cracked in the same way it was initially. He headed to the empty bed and climbed in, draping the covers over his body with a smile.

 **-000-**

In his new bed, Ace woke up with a yawn, a whine coming from his maw, as he used one of his ribbons to rub his eyes. He glanced around before looking at the window on the back wall. The beaming sunlight from the window shined onto Frosty's face, who was in the bed across from him, causing the snow to melt.

Seeing this, Ace's eyes widened and he swiftly ran over to wake up the icicle monster. Shaking him awake, Frosty shrieked before floating upwards.

"Ace?!" he exclaimed. "What are doing in here?!"

"I slept in here!" Ace retorted. "Now are you okay? You were melting!"

Frosty looked at his bed and saw that there was more snow on the bed and it was also wet. "Arceus damn it!"

"What's with the shouting and cursing so early in the morning?" Carson questioned as he sat up in his bed.

"Frosty's snow melted off of his face," Ace explained in concern.

"He's an Ice-type," Kojo said tonelessly as he sat up and prepared to get out of bed. "He'll be fine."

The Mienshao stood up and started exiting the room as the others just stuck around.

"You know what to do," Skore said simply as he got out of bed and headed to the kitchen, with Striker and Carson following.

Ace raised a brow before Frosty used Blizzard on the corner, causing a pile of snow to appear after a while. Ace shivered a bit, taking a few steps back. Frosty buried his head in the snow and took it back out a minute later.

"Much better," he sighed. "Thanks for letting me know, Ace."

"Uh, yeah…" Ace marveled. "No problem."

Frosty followed the guys to the front, leaving Ace alone and perplexed.

 **000**

 **Ace: I have a feeling that I'm gonna like my original season better than this one. There's too many people that are either weird, obnoxious, mean, or...I don't know!**

 **000**

While the Lugias continued hanging around in their cabin, the Ho-Ohs took the time to leave their crummy cabin and just hang around different parts of the island. A few of the Lugias even retreated from the luxurious cabin to just converse and wander a bit.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs' girls' side of the cabin was mostly empty, with the exception of Marie, who was thinking to herself while lying in her bunk. She wasn't sure how this season was going to pan out for her, due to her being an obvious threat. She was acting as the team leader, with assistance from Summer, but she knew that her acting in that fashion wouldn't matter if others ended up going against her.

This season was full of the competitors that barely did anything and were insignificant in some form or fashion, so in other words, they were all unpredictable.

"Hmm…" she started. "Maybe an early alliance…" she mused, rubbing her head. "But who would be on it?"

The answer to that came with the creaking of the cabin door. Summer had opened the door of the crummy cabin, almost taking it off of its rusted hinges, and glanced at Marie thoughtfully.

"Uh, why are you still in here?" the Typhlosion questioned.

Marie figured that this would be the right time to explain the plan since it was just the two of them there at the moment. "I was just thinking about something…" she answered vaguely.

"Um, you know you can still think _outside_ of this shithole cabin, right?" Summer queried rhetorically, folding her arms.

Marie shrugged nonchalantly before letting her feet dangle from her bunk before jumping down. "I'll come out, but first I need to talk to you about something."

Summer's brows furrowed. "Talk about what? An alliance?"

"Seriously, what else would there be to talk about?" Marie chortled, as Summer shook her head playfully.

Summer closed the cabin door and took a sharp breath. "Alright. I'm in, but why so early?"

"Because I don't know how the others really play," Marie explained, folding her arms. "This is pretty much the season of the unknown since almost everyone here barely did anything or were eliminated too early to make an impact. Well, minus Skore, Cano, and Striker."

"Yeah, that's a pretty good point," Summer replied, leaning against the closed cabin door. "So, what are we even gonna do in this alliance?"

"Well first, I think we need one more member just so it feels... normal," Marie suggested.

"Um, okay," Summer replied. "But who?"

"Hmm, I was thinking Sabrina, but I don't think she'd want to deal with something like this just yet because of the Fez cheating thing."

"Why not Anthony?" Summer proposed. "He may be an annoying smartass, but he's still pretty smart. And having at least one guy couldn't hurt us…"

Marie sighed. "You're right in that regard, but I doubt that jackass will even accept the offer…"

 **-000-**

"I acquiesce…" Anthony said as he lied on the beach, sand covering his body.

"See, I told you he wouldn't accept," Marie recalled agitatedly. "Let's go ask-"

Anthony sat up with a sigh before the girls turned around to leave. "Acquiesce means to accept without protest," he explained tonelessly. "In other words, I'm in."

"Then why didn't you just say that?" Summer quizzed, her eyes glowering in agitation at the Blastoise as she placed her hands on her hips.

"You should know the answer to that," Anthony replied as he got onto his feet and dusted the sand off of himself. "So, what's the goal of this alliance?"

"There's no set goal. We're just gonna be allies and try to share the same voting choices," Marie explained.

"Well, I still stay we get rid of Cano as soon as possible," Anthony replied.

"Maybe we should just wait until the next challenge is over, huh?" Summer questioned sarcastically. "Targeting willy-nilly isn't gonna help us."

"I'm sure that we'll be just fine without the possibly deadly mutt," Anthony remarked.

"I agree with Summer," Marie spoke. "We already said that Cano was an option if he proves that he's useless or if others prove their merit more, so pestering about it won't help the cause."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

 **000**

 **Marie: Alright, I've got two allies now. Hopefully these two will cooperate and we'll be able to help each other out.**

 **000**

Egridos floated out of the Winners' Cabin with a yawn. The Cofagrigus looked around the dirt-riddled campground and noted that no one was around. The only ones still in the vicinity were him and the ones that stayed in the cabin to chill.

He didn't necessarily care about anyone on his team, so he was completely fine with leaving. He just wanted to know where Lassie was. Sure, they were on opposite teams, but who really cared? They could do what they wanted. He decided to head to the old, abandoned school, as he knew that it was the only place that'd really interest Lassie.

The coffin floated through the forest, the lush foliage and odorous air causing him to groan at the dullness of the environment. He continued toward the direction of the school. Eventually, passing through a few more bushes and a small bunch of daffodils, he came upon the school and saw his wife entering the school.

"Field trip!" he exclaimed as he floated toward the school, following Lassie. He phased through the door of the school and immediately saw Dhaunt, Marion, and Lassie going down the front hallway.

The inside of the school was pretty standard, with lockers lining the sides of the halls and open doors separating them. No light came from the school itself, so the light had to come from windows that were sporadically situated around.

The lockers were all greenish-grey in coloration, with rust covering some of them due to holes in ceiling, evident by puddles of water that hadn't seemed to dry at all. The walls themselves were made up of bricks of white and green-grey, some color seeming to fade due to age. The floors were disheveled, with the beige tiles being either missing, torn, or completely discolored. There were cobwebs in almost every corner. There were also torn up posters and banners that read things such as 'Bake Sale', 'Book Club Meeting at 7 PM', and 'Basketball Practice Tonight 6:30 PM'.

As Egridos slowly took the environment in, he didn't seem to notice Lassie, Dhaunt, and Marion floating back towards him after sensing his presence.

"Uh, Egridos?" Dhaunt said quizzically, wondering about the Coffin Pokemon's sudden idleness. "You okay?"

Lassie waved a hand in front of her immobile husband's face, eventually causing him to blink and return to reality.

"Huh? When did you guys get back here?" he asked unheedingly.

"A few minutes ago," Marion answered. "A better question is why were you just sitting here staring?"

Egridos shrugged with his arms. "I don't know. I guess I got caught up with the disheveledness of this place. It's pretty cool," he opined, looking around once again. "Better than what my high school looked like at least."

"Uh huh…" Lassie moaned, folding her arms. "So, what made you come out this way? Shouldn't you be living it up with your team in your victory cabin?"

Egridos scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's boring in there. It's just a fancier cabin. Our house has more to do in it! Plus, I wanted to hang out with you guys."

Hearing that, Lassie couldn't help but crack a small smile and kiss the Cofagrigus' cheek. A few seconds later, a bulb lit up in her head, the birth of an idea.

"Guys, I think we should make an alliance," Lassie voiced confidently.

"I'm in," Egridos replied in an instant.

"Whoa, where's this coming from?" asked Dhaunt. "I mean, it sounds like a decent idea, but I'm not sure how well it'll work."

"Oh come on Dhaunt, it'll be just fine," Lassie assured. "Does anyone really even care about us on the team as of yet? No, so they'll never suspect a thing."

"She's got a point there, Dhaunt," Marion agreed, folding her arms. "This alliance doesn't sound like a bad idea, so we should go along with it."

Dhaunt was still a bit unsure when it came to alliances. With how most of them turned out in this series, he had a good reason to be cautious. However, he actually knows Lassie and Egridos well, so he knows what to expect from teaming up with them. With a hesitant sigh, he nodded in agreement.

"Great!" Lassie chirped. "This'll be great! We may just have three votes that count, but having info from the opposing team will work out well for us, too!"

"That's if Egridos is willing to betr-"

"I don't care about anyone on my team, so I'll be happy to bring info to the alliance," Egridos cut off. "If I'm able to garner any, that is…"

"Okay, radical!" Marion acclaimed, pumping her right arm. "Now, if we're in an alliance, we're gonna need a name."

"Marion, we're grown adults, I don't think a name is necessary," Dhaunt remarked.

"Age is nothing but a number," Marion retorted, folding her arms. "So, any ideas?"

"We can just ourselves the The Ghoul Gang," Lassie said, not really wanting to put effort into the name, as it was pointless to her. "A name doesn't really mean anything anyway."

"Yeah, Ghoul Gang is good enough," Egridos concurred, wrapping an arm around Lassie, pulling her closer.

"Alright, we shall henceforth be known as the GHOUL GANG!" Marion exclaimed. "So, what are we going to do first?"

"I say we finish exploring this place," Dhaunt suggested, looking around. "That way, if we ever have a challenge in here, we have an advantage."

"Great idea!" Lassie said, rubbing her hands together.

 **000**

 **Lassie: This alliance is has a good chance of going far as long as nobody suspects a thing.**

 **000**

Frosty, Farra, Skore, and Striker were sitting on a part of a beach near the stationary bonfire. Farra was staring at the waves that crashed onto the shore before letting out a soft sigh. She usually erased it from her memory, but being reminded of the relationship that she lost because she had mostly male friends really irked her a bit.

She turned behind her, eyeing the guys as they conversed with each other. She wished that Piff and Emilia were here, as they were the only other girls in their group that would talk to her on a normal basis. Sure, her main thing was her obsession with the Metapod behind her, but she wasn't that consumed with him anymore and saw him more as a friend; though her actions suggested otherwise.

She _would_ be trying to get more acquainted with the other girls on her team, just so she had others to talk to, but she didn't really feel comfortable or connected with any of them. So, here she was, lying on the beach while staring out in the distance. The bright sunlight was bathing her and the grains of sand were massaging her as she lied on them. She felt her eyes start to droop slightly from the comfort washing over her, but she wasn't going to be able to completely feel it, as she was interrupted by one of the guys calling her.

"Hey, Farra!" Striker called out, causing the Girafarig's eyes to pop back open. With a huff, she sat up and turned in their direction.

"Yeah, Striker?" she conceded.

"Could you come over for a second?"

With an unwilling sigh, she rose up from the sand and clopped over to the three of them. "Yeah?" she asked with a rather dispirited disposition.

This wasn't the norm for her, so hearing her tone and seeing the look in her eyes caused the guys to become worried.

"Uh, are you okay?" Skore queried thoughtfully.

"Yes," she lied. "Perfectly fine."

"You sure?" Frosty pressed. "Because you don't look so good…"

"I said I'm fine," she stomped. "Now what do you guys want?"

The Vanilluxe and Drapion exchanged wary glances before looking down at the Metapod; they didn't like making Farra mad, because then only Striker could calm her down. Striker, sensing the hostility in her voice, swallowed in nervousness before clearing his throat.

"Well, we were wondering if you would be interested in joining the alliance we were making," Striker explained.

Immediately, upon hearing that, Farra grew perplexed. Did they really have to ask? "Uh, was I not already planned on being in the alliance?"

The guys exchanged nervous looks. "That's why we're asking now?" Frosty quavered.

Farra shook her head in anger and disbelief, heading back into the forest, supposedly to go back to the cabins.

"Uh… What just happened?" Skore questioned.

"I... think she's upset that we didn't instantly include her in the alliance," Striker concluded.

"Well, that's a bit of an overreaction, isn't it?" Frosty commented. "I mean, I'd probably feel- Oh, wait, nevermind, I can see why she's hurt now."

 **000**

 **Farra: So, you're telling me that after all of the years we've spent together, literally living in the same apartment complex and going out, you still need to ask me to be a part of a strategic group made up of friends? Really?**

 **I know most of you people watching this stupid show are judging me, but how would you feel if the people you've been around for YEARS suddenly have to ask you if you want to team up with them in a game WHEN YOU'RE ON THE SAME TEAM ANYWAY!?**

 **000**

Brian was in his new lair typing away on his computer in order to distract himself from Macey's advances toward him. She'd been pestering him ever since the last challenge ended. The wannabe evil mastermind couldn't even get any sleep due to her constant pleading for him to construct her another weapon that caused sudden lust in males for other males.

"Come on Brian, pleeeeeease," Macey pressed, holding onto the back of his chair. "You promised!"

"Your scripturient nature and aeipathy for male-on-male copulation perturbs me," the Reuniclus grunted. "I was reminded of it in the previous challenge, so I will not fulfill your request!"

"PLEEEEEEEEASE! I'll do anything you want!" she said, turning him around so that they were face to face. " _Anything~."_

Brian was adamant, glowering at her. "Cease your pleading at once! I will not be swayed!"

"Come on!" Macey blustered, sitting in the 'evil' genius' lap and starting to grind on him. "This _has_ to do something for you~."

"Your callipygian figure does not influence my decision," he replied tonelessly.

Upon hearing that, Macey growled as she floated off of him and turned around, her arms folded. "Brian, you are going to build me another love ray and you are going to like it!" she commanded.

"No," he responded, turning back around to face his computer.

Macey glared at him. "I told you that I'd leave you alone for the remainder of the season if you did this for me. You're no longer willing to take that deal?"

Upon being reminded of that, Brian's eye jerked. He facepalmed himself. "Okay, since I do not wish to bother with you any longer, I shall fulfill your request."

"When?"

"Now…" Brian replied as he started teleporting different tech parts to himself. "I don't wish to deal with you any longer. So, I will attempt to finish this weapon of same-sex intercourse by the end of the day. Now please skedaddle, inventing takes time."

Macey kissed his cheek again, causing him to groan in displeasure, before floating out of his cave. Brian let out a sigh of relief as he set the parts down beside him. "Why me?" he moaned in annoyance.

 **000**

 **Brian: I feel sorry for the poor saps who will be the victims of her lust.**

 **000**

Holly, Ashton, Carson, and Amethyst, being part of the winning team, decided to hang around in the cabin. Everyone else decided to head out and about, leaving the four of them alone. They were initially watching television, but Holly eventually turned it off so that they could converse.

"So guys, what do you think will happen this season?" the motherly bat questioned, looking around the room. Amethyst was lying on a couch, Ashton was getting some Oran Juice from the fridge, and Carson was just sitting on a couch next to her.

"I'm honestly not sure," Ashton replied, using her vines to place the carton of Oran Juice back into the fridge. She then picked up her glass before returning to the living room and sitting on the empty couch. "But, with how things went in the All-Stars season, I'm fairly certain that it won't be that good."

The other three agreed in that light. "Yeah, with all of the dirty laundry that was aired and new sides of people that emerged, I admit, I'm pretty on edge," Carson fretted.

"Yeah," Amethyst quavered. "What if someone that seems nice turns out being bad?"

The Swoobat fluttered over to the shaky Amaura and pet her side soothingly with a wing. "Don't try to think that way," she insisted, causing Amethyst to give her a skeptical look. "The only one we'd possibly have to worry about at this moment, based off of genes alone, is Sparky."

"What about his brother?" Ashton queried before taking a sip from her glass. "He's a danger, too."

"He's not really on our team, so I didn't count him," Holly explained. "We have to focus on what and who we have right now before we worry about the future. We don't even know if Cano will make it that far. So, let's just try to keep our heads up."

Carson exhaled, feeling insecure about Holly's attempt at lifting their spirits. In this game, it was borderline impossible to be consistently exuberant. The hosts, the challenges, the other competitors, they all played a part in how you felt about the competition, and usually that feeling was either one of dread, anger, or annoyance. "That's easier said than done," the bell responded.

"Like I said," Holly retorted. " _Try_ to keep your head up. It'll be hard, but it's likely the only way we'll keep our sanity around here."

Carson sighed. "I guess."

"Great," Holly replied with a cheerful nod, as the other three exchanged looks of unsurety.

 **000**

 **Holly: Look, I know that this game is anything BUT a happy place to be. But, if I want me and my friends to make it far, we're gonna need to tough some things out and just keep moving forward.**

 **000**

A good amount of the guys had gathered in an area of the forest just to chat with each other. Some things regarding the info received in the last challenge, and other things just out of pure curiosity.

"So, uh…" Chlotz started. "How's life?"

"Great way to start a conversation…" Taylor commented, rolling his eyes. "That hasn't been done over a million times already."

"Does it really matter?" Sparky questioned, giving the Milotic a look of disapproval.

"Do _you_ matter?" Taylor countered.

Sparky wasn't gonna dignify that with a response, not because he was going to be the bigger person, but because he didn't have a retort to that.

Getting no response, Taylor smirked. "Exactly."

" _You_ don't matter, man-bitch," Chlotz retorted. "You were fucked by a masochistic adrenaline junkie," he gibed.

"And he felt amazing," Taylor boasted. "Your point?"

"So… You're gay. Good start to this orgy of admittance," Fez grumbled.

Taylor scoffed. "Oh please. I don't have a sexuality. What this klutzy oaf is speaking of was purely strategic," he said haughtily.

"I didn't know buttsex counted as a strategy," Kojo commented, his arms folded as he sat against a tree.

Taylor glowered at the ermine before turning away in a huff. "Anyway, it doesn't matter; it's a new season, so everything that happened in the past needs to be fucking erased from people's minds."

"But, you still bring up-"

"QUIET!"

Phill flinched from the sudden outburst and sighed in defeat. He didn't really like arguing with people with Taylor's personality. Hubris and loathsomeness weren't his cup of tea.

"Can we move on and just ignore the Milotic?" Cano spoke. "If we're here to argue about stuff, I'll just leave."

"Hey, mate, coming back to _this_ show, some things are gonna cause arguments," Titan replied. "Whether they be small things or not."

"Hey, 'Shrimp on the Barbie' and 'Drop Dead', can we focus back on this stupid meeting please?"

"CONTESTANTS! MEET US BACK AT THE CAMPGROUNDS! IIIIIIT'S CHALLENGE TIME!"

"Huh. Looks like this was for nothing 'Man Whore'," Cano retorted with a glare as the others started getting up and heading back to the campgrounds, himself included.

Taylor glowered at the mutt in aggravation before taking a breath and slithering after them.

 **000**

 **Taylor smacked his lips.**

 **Taylor: Yep, I hate these 'veterans'.**

 **000**

The forty-three remaining campers made it to the campgrounds, but found that neither Mew nor Victini were on the seen. This wasn't the norm, so the campers all got suspicious. They had to be up to something.

"I have a feeling those fucks are going to pull something insanely grotesque out of their asses," Sola opined.

"Uh, that's what all asses do anyway," Egridos reminded.

"When the grotesqueness isn't being forced back inside by a guy's dick," Aura commented, lifting her nose, obviously referring to Ace, who glared but said nothing.

Suddenly, a whistling sound was heard, causing a few of the competitors to begin looking around for the source.

"Uh… Anyone know where that noise is coming from?" Dhaunt questioned.

"If we did, don't you think we'd have stopped it by now?" Summer retorted with a scowl.

"Uh, I suggest we look up for the answer," Farra commented, looking up.

Everyone looked up, only for a large, bottomless cage to land over and encase them all. Multiple groans and mutters of annoyance emanated from the campers as they were put in a cage for the second time.

"Another cage. Splendid," Morgan complained with a huff.

"What are these nozzles for?" Freezeo inquired, using his icy chains to wiggle the nozzles lining the roof of the cage.

"I highly suggest that you not touch them unless you want to find out," Anthony proposed. "Knowing Victini, those things are gonna-"

Immediately, the nozzles began exuding a pink gas, slowly enveloping all of the campers and entering their lungs. One by one, two by two, eventually all of them passed out, even the ones with the Insomnia ability. Shortly after they were all asleep, both Mew and Victini teleported into the campgrounds, both of them wearing gas masks, as the pink gas was still in the air.

"Perfect," Victini chirped, rubbing his hands together diabolically. "They're gonna be in for a big surprise when they wake back up."

Mew just rolled his eyes in response.

 **000**

Ace was snoozing softly while lying on a concrete floor. Eventually, he clenched his closed eyes before opening them. The first thing he saw was the unconscious form of a familiar shiny Glaceon. Growling in his head, he looked beyond her and saw vertical bars in a doorway. His eyes widened immediately as he sat up. Now up, he was able to see that his hind right leg was shackled to a rusty pipe. "What the hell?"

Looking around, he saw that Shine and Aspen were asleep as well, their hind legs chained to a bed and to the wall accordingly. Ace turned back towards an unconscious Aura, and noticed that she was chained to the bars of the door.

Based on the scenery, he could tell that-

"WE'RE IN JAIL!?" Ace blustered as he tried to rush to the bars, only to be stopped by the pipe around his hind leg. "No… NO! I'm too young to be raped!"

Due to his outbursts, Aura started to shuffle in her sleep, along with Shine and Aspen. The shiny Glaceon's eyes slowly opened and she started looking around as her vision became clear. Seeing the environment she was in, who she was stuck with, and the situation she was in, she immediately sighed in annoyance.

"Great, just great," she groaned as she sat up. "I'm stuck in a jail cell with 'Queer' and 'Can't Make my own Child'."

"Hey, you act like it's a pleasant experience for us," Ace retorted with a glower as the Espeon near the bed slowly rose onto her feet.

"What the hell is going on?" Shine asked, her eyes slowly adjusting.

"Open your eyes, bitch. We're in a jail cell," Aura responded as she peered out of their cell through the bars.

"WHAT!?" Shine exclaimed as she tried rushing to the door, only to move the bed a bit. The scraping of the rusty metal of the bed frame against the concrete floor caused Aspen, who was still asleep, to slowly raise her head up and blink a few times.

"Ugh, what's with all of the noise?!" Aspen snapped, covering her face with her paws as she lied back down.

"Sorry Ms. Priss, but we're in JAIL right now, so excuse our panic!" Ace exclaimed as he tried using his ribbons to yank the chain off of his shackles.

"JAIL!?" Aspen blustered, her eyes bugging out as she rose up. Feeling something cold around her right hind leg, she lifted it up and saw a shackle attached to a chain in the wall. "What is this?! I can't be in jail! I'm too pretty! I don't wanna die in here! I'm surrounded by ugly people! Minus you, Aura. HELP!"

Aura sighed as her friend's bluster before turning back toward the door and seeing a pair of muscular legs in front of her. She froze momentarily before slowly looking up and seeing a Machamp dressed up as a warden, complete with a collared brownish-green shirt, a black tie, and black sunglasses. He had a nametag that said 'Warden Aine L. Terrer'. He was holding a stack of papers in one of his four arms.

"Uh… H-Hi?" Aura greeted hesitantly.

In response, the warden shoved a piece of paper into the cell before walking away. They heard the sounds of their fellow competitors in the cells around them as the warden passed by the others.

Aura watched the Superpower Pokemon leave their cell before picking up the piece of paper and starting to read it.

"What does it say?" Shine inquired, eyeing it suspiciously.

 **000**

"Hello campers and welcome to your next challenge," Sabrina read as she stood with her foot shackled to the wall. Vixen was lying on the bed with her front left paw shackled to the bed frame. Sparky was shackled to the toilet across from the bed, and Klavier was shackled to the bars of the cell door. When the warden came by, Klavier handed the paper to Sabrina, who grabbed it with her talons.

"As you can see, you are cuffed to different areas of the cell," the Staraptor continued. "In an homage to the jail break challenge from season one, you goal is to get you and your team mate out of the cell and prison you are in."

"Oh come on, this can't be-" Klavier started before being interrupted by Sabrina.

"Note: This is a real prison. Specifically Kamus d'a Morte Federal Prison, the same prison where Ray got what was _coming_ to him two seasons ago, so be wary. There are four keys hidden in your cells and each one is for a different cuff. Once you unfree yourself, you must find a way to get out of the cell you're in, make it past the guards and warden, as well as the other prisoners, and make it to the exit. The team that has the most players out within ten hours will win and the losers will be sending someone home," Sabrina finished. She immediately growled and shredded the paper with her talons out of annoyance.

"Great, so we're trapped in a completely dangerous prison and we have just ten hours to find keys, unlock ourselves, and somehow get the hell out of here," Sparky made shorter. "Just great."

"Well, at least we're not in a cell with the criminals like the others in the fifth season," Vixen said with faux cheeriness, feeling absolutely petrified on the inside.

"Yeah, instead they're all probably downstairs waiting to tear us apart when and if we get out of this Arceus-forsaken cell," Sabrina drawled as she pecked at her cuff.

"Man, it's challenges like this that make me hate this game," Klavier groaned, rubbing his head.

"Well, Vix, let's not waste time complaining and get out of here," Sparky said, rising onto all fours.

Vixen raised a brow. "Uh huh, do you even know where any of the keys to these cuffs are?" she questioned warily.

"Uh, I'm a Luxray, remember. I can see through walls and other objects." Sparky reminded.

"I would've thought that your dad beat that ability out of you," Sabrina commented, causing Sparky to sigh to himself.

"Can people just stop bringing him up?" Sparky moaned in vexation. "I'm already a near split-image of the fucker, I don't need to be reminded that I'm related to him."

He started looking around the cell for any indication of a key. He continued looking around, eventually identifying a key in the toilet drain pipe.

"Okay, there's a key in the toilet, so that's a good thing for me," Sparky beamed.

"Hey! Same team! Check over here!" Vixen called.

"Figures you'd want him looking at you," Klavier remarked, yanking on different ends of his chain.

Vixen glowered at him. "Don't start that bullshit," she growled. "This is for the fucking challenge, nothing else."

"Suuuuure," both he and Sabrina said simultaneously as they fiddled with their own shackles and chains.

"Hmm, I'm not seeing anything, Vix," Sparky notified.

"Did you check the bed?" she asked. "Maybe there's a key in the frame or something."

Sparky sighed and slowly looked across the bed in a focused manner. As he scanned the bed for anything, he came upon a key!

"Okay, Vixen, it actually looks like you're lying on a key," Sparky claimed. "Its right underneath your crotch."

"Huh, _pretty_ specific," Sabrina teased.

Both quadrupeds glared annoyedly at the bird as Vixen hopped off of the bed and yanked off the rough, dirty covers. Nothing was there.

"I thought you said that I was sitting on a key!" Vixen chided, snapping at him.

"You were! It was right underneath y-" Sparky stopped mid sentence as he looked around and realized where the key _really_ was. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

 **000**

"Uh… Farra, Annie, I really don't think that now is a good time to-"

"It's not my fault that he never took me anywhere!" Annie exclaimed. "We just got together and nothing else really happened!"

"Exactly! Meanwhile, we're not even going out and he still goes out with me to numerous places!" Farra countered.

"That's because there's more dick around for you!" Annie bellowed. "You obviously can't keep a man with your stalking tendencies!"

"AT LEAST I'M NOT A BORING, USELESS PUSHOVER!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"

As both girls continued to argue, Striker sighed. He was still a Metapod, and his whole body was cuffed to the bars of the cell door since he had no arms, so his movement was very limited.

Cramad's right back left leg was shackled to the bed frame. And as the Girafarig and Bellossom continued to argue about Striker, she took the opportunity to use Sleep Powder. She shook her mushroom, causing dust to scatter over toward the other three competitors. Within seconds, all three of them collapsed, allowing her to think to herself without the background noise.

"Hmm… Now where would a key be hidden inside of a prison cell?" she asked herself as she scanned the cell in question.

Farra was shackled to the wall and Annie was shackled to a pipe in the corner of the cell. She didn't identify any strange bricks or notice anything that may have been disturbed in the filthy cell, so she decided to start searching the bed.

She yanked the crusty covers off before tossing the mattress off of the metal frame. Immediately, she was able to retrieve a key that was taped underneath the mattress.

"Nice," she commented to herself as she reached back with her left claw and started trying to unlock her cuff. However, the key did not work for her, causing her to groan. She placed the key back underneath the mattress and reapplied the tape before putting the mattress back on the bed frame. The sheets were kept off, however, as it wasn't worth the effort in her opinion.

The Parasect then looked back toward Striker, where she saw that the paper was still underneath him. She groaned. "Of course."

 **000**

 **Cramad: *Sigh* I shoulda been shackled to the door bars.**

 **000**

"Uh, nice work mate, I suppose," Titan said with a bit of hesitancy. Freezeo had frozen both Sally and Reta solid. Sure, he was working with the girls, but it was mainly outside of challenges. The Galvantula was uncertain due to the fact that the girls were shackled closer to the back of the cell near the bed and toilet, so they could likely have more searching space if they thawed out.

"Okay, now while they're frozen, we need to look for keys," Freezeo suggested as he started floating around.

The Cryogonal was shackled to the door by the waist, so he wasn't able to really go that far up. Titan, being shackled to the wall near the door, groaned.

"Hey! I think I see something in the light," Freezeo spoke as he floated as high as he could.

"What is it?" the EleSpider asked.

"I'm not sure," the Cryogonal replied before using Ice Beam, freezing the light bulb. "Quick use an electric move!"

"Uh, okay?" the Aussie replied before firing a ball of electricity toward the frozen light bulb, causing it to shatter and for a key to fall to the ground.

"Yes!" Freezeo cheered as Titan went for the key. "Imagine if someone else didn't know to look up there."

Titan gave him a look of confusion. "Uh, yeah, I'm sure they'd still be stuck in here, cobber."

The Galvantula picked up the key with his from feelers, but couldn't reach his right middle leg. He groaned at his lack of flexibility.

"Uh, a little help here?" the spider asked as Freezeo floated over to him. The two were lucky that they'd been shackled relatively close together.

Freezeo attempted to unlock him, but the key didn't work for his shackle.

"Fair suck of the sav!" he exclaimed. "Well, try yours then, mate."

Freezeo used his ice chains to try and unlock himself, and luckily, he was able to succeed! Once he was free, he prepared to leave, but he realized that he needed to get Titan out as well.

"This could take a while," he said, looking around the cell.

 **000**

"I am NOT going to have sex with Kojo, so STOP!" Cano barked agitatedly as he sat at the cell door.

"Come on~," Macey urged. "Your plump juicy meat will stretch him wide and it'll be so great!"

Brian, Kojo, and Cano all stared at her, disturbed at the imagery she just implemented. The Arcanine and Mienshao exchanged uneasy looks towards each other.

Cano turned away to look out of the bars, while Kojo just turned away and climbed onto the bed.

Macey, who was cuffed to the toilet bowl, smiled to herself as she turned to Brian, who was feeling the wall to see if there were any weak parts to it.

"Hmm… If only I had my Ultrasonic Item Sensor, I'd have found all four keys by now," the Reuniclus groaned, letting his arms droop to his sides.

"Ultrasonic what now?" Cano questioned, raising a brow.

"It's none of your concern, beast with large genitalia," Brian replied, causing Cano to growl to himself. "Just know that if I had it, we would be free."

"Come on. Just picture yourself balls deep in Kojo's ass!" Macey chirped before gasping. "You could _knot_ him!" she drooled.

Cano twitched, while Kojo yelled, covering his ears. "MAKE IT STOP!"

"How the hell did you deal with her in your season?" Cano queried, eyeing Brian, who hadn't shown any disgust since the first thing she said.

"You'd rather not know," Brian replied, not wanting to reveal what he did for her. He could become a target, especially since he was going to have to do the same thing again to get her off of his back. "Trust me."

"You'll learn soon enough, though," Macey giggled eerily, causing even more uneasiness from Kojo and Cano.

"Okay, let's find this key," Kojo said, finally getting off of the bed upon hearing that. Immediately, he tossed flipped the entire bed onto its side to get a view of its bottom. Seeing nothing, he growled and left the bed on its side.

Cano picked up the paper given to him by the warden and looked over it once more before flipping it and seeing roman numerals lining the top. It was in a very small font size, but he could somewhat make out the numbers.

" _Numbers…_ " he whispered to himself.

He started looking around the cell himself; mainly the places he could reach. The numbers obviously had significance, or else they wouldn't have been implemented in the note, sure they were small and on the back, but still.

He continued looking around before he eventually noticed a panel on the back wall where Kojo moved the bed. The Arcanine's eyes widened before he groaned annoyedly. "Fuck me…"

"Wait, so you want to be a uke?" Macey queried before pondering to herself. "Hmm, well, Fire-types do enjoy sodomy more than any other type of Pokemon, so I guess that makes sense-"

"HEY!" Cano barked.

 **000**

Amethyst had frozen her shackle on her front right leg and tried to yank it off, but it didn't work. She sighed as she just continued lying down on the bed in sadness. She was in a cell with Egridos, who was shackled around his body and chained to the door, Dhaunt, whose right arm was shackled to the toilet, and Fez, who was shackled to the wall by his left foot.

Currently, Egridos and Fez were arguing about how a relationship should work, with Dhaunt trying to be the middleman and calm the situation down. She didn't like being in this type of environment, she just kept herself balled up on the dirty sheets.

"Cheating on her wasn't a good idea. That's all I'm saying," Egridos defended as he leaned against the right wall next to the door.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm attractive to other girls!" Fez countered. "When I don't feel like I'm getting attention, I turn to those other girls. If anything, it's Sabrina's fault that I cheated!"

"Uh, I don't think blaming the girl is the correct way to defend yourself dude," Dhaunt spoke, inserting himself into their quarrel. "The only way that'd work is if she was abusive or something. Which I doubt she is."

"You'd be right in that regard," Fez replied. "Look, let's just drop it. What happened, happened. She doesn't want me anymore? Fine, but I'll still want her. Whether she likes it or not."

"That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever, but sure. Let's go with that," Egridos said, rolling his eyes. "Now, about this stupid challenge. Hey, newbie! Get up! We've gotta find keys for these shackles."

Amethyst, hearing that, sighed to herself softly. "Okay," she timidly squeaked as she got onto her feet. Jumping off of the bed, she looked around momentarily and at her shackled leg before looking back at Egridos, distress etched onto her face.

Egridos facepalmed himself. "Just move stuff around or feel around for stuff!"

"Egridos, does she look like she's able to move further with one of those small legs of hers being shackled?" Dhaunt questioned.

"Well she's gonna have to try!" Egridos prodded. "In this game, shyness and idleness gets you _eliminated_."

Upon hearing that, Amethyst looked down in fear. Being stuck in a cell with these three, Egridos in specific, was really causing more anxiety to build in her. She moved her head underneath the bed and, with all of her strength, heaved it onto its side.

"There you go!" Egridos rejoiced.

Amethyst gave him a vexed look with her peripheral vision as she moved back from the bed and saw a bobby pin taped to the bottom of the frame.

"Uh… There's a pin here," she revealed.

"Okay, well, either try to unlock yourself or toss the thing over here!" Egridos suggested, beckoning with two of his ghostly arms.

After getting those instructions, she bent down, pin in mouth, and proceeded with an attempt to unlock herself. It took a while, and with all three veteran players watching her, she felt like there were two, two ton weights on each of her shoulders.

Sven had been trying to help her get over her anxiety and nervousness, but it seemed like his teachings were failing her, as she was in a panic. Eventually, she just stopped and tossed the pin in Egridos' direction. To the coffin's dismay, she hadn't tossed it far enough, so Fez was able to get it in his clutches.

"Nice job," Egridos groaned disdainfully, his eyes glaring disapprovingly toward the nervous Amaura.

Dhaunt sighed.

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: Egridos is my friend and all, but he seriously needs to learn to leave well enough alone.**

 **000**

Phill groaned in dismay, covering his ears as Pia went on and on about the different conspiracies that she and her group were discovering and starting to bring to light. It was very, very irritating, and the fact that the other two in the cell with them were Skore and Holly made it even more excruciating because they were actually working together to try and find keys!

The Mouse Pokemon was cuffed to the bars of the door, Pia was cuffed to the wall, Holly was cuffed to the bed, and Skore was cuffed to the toilet. As Pia droned on, the Drapion and Swoobat had searched around their sections of the cell.

"Pia, can we _please_ focus on the challenge!?" Phill exclaimed, interrupting the Hypno's conversation she was having with herself. Pia gave him an annoyed look, wanting to finish what she was saying, but she decided to tone it down and actually help him, and the team, out.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Skore, did you check the toilet tank already?" Holly inquired as she watched the Drapion lie against the grimy wall of their cell.

"Yes, and my claw is going to need to be flushed with four large bottles of sanitizer and boiling water," Skore replied, lifting a soaked, filthy claw.

"Hmm…" Holly started as she slowly looked around the cell. Peering behind the head of the bed, she noticed a vent with slightly bent bars. Her eyes widened immediately. "Hey, Skore, there's a vent over here!"

"Okay, great," Skore replied gleefully. "See if there's anything in it."

"I would if this chain wasn't restricting me," she replied as she tried flying upwards, only to stop midway to the ceiling.

Seeing and hearing this, Phill groaned. Hearing his sound of distress, Skore acknowledged him.

"Uh, you okay there, Phill?" the Drapion asked in concern.

"He's probably just irritated at the fact that I'm correct about the conspiracies regarding these shows," Pia replied haughtily.

"I couldn't care less about your conspiracy bullshit!" Phill snapped. "The fact of the matter is that you're not helping with this challenge! You're just blabbing on about _nothing_!"

"Phillip… I think you should calm down," Holly suggested soothingly. "Getting frustrated isn't going to help you guys win."

"Frustration doesn't exist, neither does any real-"

Pia was interrupted when Phill let out a yell of aggravation. The mouse used Hyper Fang, biting down on the chain attached to the cuff around his foot. However, the chomp didn't even put a dent in the chain.

 **000**

 **Phill: Fuck. My. Life.**

 **000**

Ashton, Sola, Marion, and Rapid were in a cell, with Ashton being shackled to the toilet, Rapid being chained to the door, Marion being chained to the bed, and Sola being chained to the wall.

"This is one of the dumbest challenges these guys have ever come up with," Sola commented, filing her nails with the bricks of the wall. "Hide four keys in a small cell with two players from each team. Makes perfect sense… Not."

"Maybe this is a challenge where we actually have to cooperate to get out of here," Marion said pensively. "I mean, it's a stretch, but what are the odds of us being chained near the places our own keys would be?"

"That… Doesn't sound like a bad idea," Ashton agreed, turning to the Absol with thoughtful eyes. "Maybe Marion's onto something."

"I found a key!" Rapid chirped, holding up a key.

The three girls turned to him, mystified. They had been so caught up in their own conversations and trying to figure out the next steps that they completely neglected the Linoone amongst them.

"Wait, _how_?!" Sola exclaimed out of shock. "You're literally chained to the door! Where did you get that key?"

"I looked on the back of the paper and it said to check the corners," Rapid explained, picking up the paper the warden had given them.

Ashton, using her vines, grabbed the paper from the Linoone and looked on the back, like he claimed to have done, but saw nothing but blurry writing.

"Wait, Rapid, there's nothing-" Ashton started before looking back at the Linoone, only to see that he'd abandoned the key and was looking outside of the bars of the door.

"Hey guys, I can see a few others!" Rapid said cheerily.

"Rapid! Focus!" Marion shouted, watching the Linoone's tail swish excitedly. He didn't pay her any mind, though, as he watched what was going on across from their cell.

Marion facepalmed herself as Ashton took the opportunity to use another vine to grab the key next to Rapid's leg. Immediately, she utilized the key, but found that it didn't work for her cuff.

"Darn it!" she mumbled to herself.

"Hey, toss it over here!" Sola instructed, cupping her paws.

When Ashton tossed the key over using a vine, Marion stopped it in midair. She then floated the key toward herself and attempted to free herself. After trying the key both ways, she realized that it didn't work on her cuff.

The Marionette Pokemon groaned from failure and vexedly threw the key against the wall across from her. Luckily, it landed at Sola's feet.

" _Thanks_ ," the Absol snarked, rolling her eyes as she picked up the key and attempted to unlock herself. Luckily for her, the key worked, and was able to free herself. "Yes!"

"Great," Marion huffed. "Now can you help us out, too?"

Sola sneered at the puppet. "Sorry Marion, but this is still a challenge. Thus, I'm only obligated to help out my _teammate_."

She sauntered over toward Ashton and sat there for a few seconds. Seeing this, Ashton sighed exasperatedly.

"You have no idea where the other keys are, do you?" she inquired with a knowing tone.

"Not a clue," Sola responded with a disappointed frown.

 **000**

Morgan was trying to pick the lock on her collar, but was having absolutely no luck. Groaning in defeat, she turned to the door she was chained to and started shaking them agitatedly. "This is so fucking DUMB!" she growled.

"Tell us something that we don't know," Lassie spoke, folding her arms, one of which was cuffed to the wall. "This entire show is fucking dumb!"

"Hey, complaining about it isn't going to change anything," Luna drawled, paws folded as she lie on the old bed, collar around her neck as well. "The only thing we can do is try to find the stupid keys and get out of here."

"Well, where would we even start?" Morgan queried.

"Wherever," Luna replied with a shrug. "The note didn't specify, so the keys could be anywhere in this dumb cell."

"So... We just trash as much of this place as we can until we find a key?" Lassie asked rhetorically. "That doesn't sound like it'll go that well."

"Hey, it's better than nothing," Luna replied as she got onto her feet. Turning to the side, she eyed the quiet Bouffalant sitting in the corner beside the toilet.

"Connor! Are you going to do something productive to help your team, or just sit there like a lemon?" she barked, getting the Bouffalant's attention as he faced her before looking away diffidently. She sighed. "Lemon it is…"

Morgan unsheathed her claws and started clawing at the bars and the walls around her. Lassie, using her ghostly abilities, felt around behind the walls and floors around _her_. Luna, like a few of the others in her situation, got off the bed and heaved it onto its side. However, her doing so only resulted in the mattress staying propped up against the wall, with its frame slamming back onto the ground.

Growling, Luna acknowledged a small, brown box underneath the frame. Morgan and Lassie noticed as well, and ceased their inadequate ransacking of the cell for a brief moment.

"A box?" Lassie asked, muddled.

Luna moved a paw through the bars of the bed frame to slide the box into the open. "Maybe it has a key inside!" she beamed hopefully as she tore off the paper and opened it.

Immediately, her hopes were dashed as she pulled out a small card.

"What's that card say?" Morgan asked. "It'd better be instructions on how to get out of these dumb cuffs…"

"It… just says flush," Luna disclosed, showing the card.

"Flush? As in toilet?" Morgan put two and two together as she faced Connor and the toilet. The Bouffalant was still facing away from the females, a faint blush on his face. "Connor, could ya check the toilet tank or the bowl or just… something?!"

Hearing that, Connor turned to the toilet and, using one of his horns, opened the lid of the toilet. Immediately, a pungent odor wafted throughout the cell. Connor nearly gagged as he peered inside, seeing murky, brownish-green water. He also saw a brown sack among other brown lumps.

"Well?" Lassie questioned.

"Uh…" Connor started, unsure.

The girls all gave him looks of botheration. Luna twitched before stomping over to him, her collar dragging the bed frame with her. She peeked into the toilet herself and saw the sack, among other things.

Giving the Bouffalant a look that said 'really?', she hastily reached into the bowl and yanked out the sack.

"Ew," both Lassie and Morgan stated, recoiling from the Mightyena's actions.

Luna opened the sack and dumped the contents out. Three keys fell with a _cling-cling-clang_ on the ground. "Yes!"

 **000**

"Three guys and one girl," Carson commented awkwardly, as the cell had been very quiet for the past half hour. "I've heard situations like this end in the girl looking like she bathed in donut glaze."

Marie, being the one girl in the cell, immediately growled and got onto her feet. "Any one of you touch me and it's the last thing you'll _ever_ do!"

Anthony smirked to himself, while Taylor rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Oh please," the Tender Pokemon huffed. "What guy would ever want to cover a beast like you in his secretions? It's disgusting to even think about…"

"Watch yourself, femboy!" Marie threatened as she sat back down, her left leg shackled to the wall.

"Great way to get us talking, bellboy," Anthony snarked, causing Carson to laugh sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"Do any of you have an idea of where the stupid keys are?" Taylor questioned. "Because I _really_ don't want to be stuck in here with any of you for another second."

"The feeling's mutual," Anthony retorted. "If this scenario was real, I'm sure that you'd be the one covered in _glaze_."

Taylor blasted a Hydro Pump directly at the Blastoise's face, which didn't do anything but amuse him.

"Nice squirting, loser," Anthony chortled.

"Hey!" Marie hollered toward Anthony. "Could you maybe stop with the heckling and use that brain of yours to get us out of here!?"

"Oh I'm sorry, but I have no idea where the hell the keys are. SAME AS YOU!" Anthony retorted.

Marie groaned before hearing Taylor snicker. Turning to him, the Feraligatr glowered. "The hell are _you_ laughing at? Toilet boy!"

"I'm laughing at you losers. You don't see me yelling at my teammate," Taylor said haughtily. "We're both completely calm."

"Yes, we can see," Anthony replied. "Your lack of care for the challenge lets us know that one of you two will NOT be here for the next episode of this craptastic show."

Taylor, with his long body, smacked the Shellfish Pokemon with his tail. "Bastard."

Rubbing his face, Anthony started twisting the Milotic's tail, causing shrieks and winces of pain to emanate from his mouth.

Marie sighed to herself. "This is so fucking hopeless…"

Carson, having been quiet for the past three minutes, was looking around the cell for anything that could be used to break their cuffs or unlock them. But, being shackled to the door by one of his arms, he didn't have much space to move.

He just so happened to peer under the bed and saw a vent there. Using Psychic, he lifted the entire bed, with Anthony still on it to get a better look.

"Whoa! What the hell?!"

"Ha!" Taylor laughed.

"A vent!" Marie acknowledged as started to move over to it, only to be stopped halfway by her chain.

"Aww… poor Feraligatr Dundee…" Taylor mocked.

"It's _Krookodile_ Dundee," Anthony corrected as he jumped off of the bed just as Carson put it back down, right onto Marie.

"HEY!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Carson apologized.

Anthony prepared to move the bed onto its side, but Taylor noted that if he did, _they'd_ have access to the vent. The vent that may just have the key to _his_ freedom!

"Carson! Stop them!" Taylor blurted.

"What?" the bell asked as Anthony heaved the bed against the wall, allowing Marie to crawl backwards a bit before getting back on her feet.

"Use Psychic or something to freeze them in place!" Taylor exclaimed after groaning.

"Do it and you're toast when we get out of here," Marie threatened, giving the Bronzong a glower.

Carson gulped in fear immediately, making Taylor scoff.

"Don't be afraid of the shemale," Taylor urged. "Just do it for the team!"

"Look who's talking!" Marie snapped.

Flustered, Carson just used Psychic to stop Marie and Anthony in their tracks, bringing a smile to Taylor's face. "Perfect."

The Milotic snaked his tail under the bed, knocking the grate off. He then put it inside before dragging it back out, feeling something there.

The 'something' was a key. Bringing it closer to himself, Taylor used his 'hair' to pick it up and try to unlock the collar around his neck. Having no luck, he swore to himself and tossed the key away in anger.

Carson sighed as he freed Anthony and Marie, who glared at him. Immediately, both of them used Ice Beam on him, freezing him solid.

"Wimp," Anthony commented as Marie picked up the key that Taylor tossed and tried unlocking herself.

After a bit of fidgeting, it finally unlocked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed as she rubbed her ankle.

Taylor grumbled annoyedly.

"Great," Anthony said. "Now can you find a key that'll get _me_ out?"

"Literally the only other place in the open to look is the toilet and I am NOT sticking my hand in there!"

Anthony scoffed. "Yes the fuck you will if it means that both of us get out of here!"

Marie gave him a look. "Try me."

Anthony's left eye twitched and he took a breath, holding in his rage. "I'm sorry, but could you come over here for a second?"

Marie obliged, coming over and sitting on the edge of the bed. Anthony got closer, placing an arm around her with a pained grin on his face. Marie eyed his arm with a glare, but he didn't move it at all. " _Need I remind you that we're in a fucking alliance? Shouldn't you, I don't know… HELP ME?!"_ he growled through grit teeth.

Marie groaned to herself. He actually made sense. "Fine. But you owe-"

"I will owe you _nothing_ and you'll like it!" Anthony interrupted with a glower. Marie glared back before walking close to the toilet -and Taylor.

"Oh-ho no. You're not getting anything from this toilet as long as I'm here," Taylor said boldly, wrapping his body around the crusty toilet.

Marie furrowed her brows in annoyance.

 **000**

Both Frosty and Chlotz, who were chained to the bed and toilet respectively, had been knocked out cold by Summer, who was chained to the door. Like all of the others, she had limited movement, so she was very agitated.

She was currently standing at the cell door, holding the bars with a glare on her face as she watched the warden cycle around all of the cells again.

She heard the disgruntled moans and arguments from her fellow competitors, which only agitated her further. She was so close to ripping the bars off of the door that it wasn't funny.

When the warden approached their cell with more papers, she immediately grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the bars, her eyes red with fury. "These papers better tell us where the keys are or you're badger chow the next time I see you."

With the Machamp's two extra arms, he was able to punch Summer back. When she was recoiling on the ground, he crumpled up one of the pieces of paper before throwing it at her as she sat up.

 **000**

 **Summer: Police brutality, much?**

 **000**

Summer rubbed her face briefly, glaring at the warden as he went down the line of cells. She leaned down and picked up the paper ball. Uncrumpling it, she saw that it was another note.

"Be warned. In the next twenty minutes, if you are still in your cell, you will be swarmed by inmates who can and will do anything they want to you," Summer read, her voice raising in alarm. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Immediately, the same distress that she heard was vocalized by the others. She looked around feverishly, not wanting to deal with any of these prisoners. She saw what happened in the All-Stars season and in no way, shape, or form was she being assaulted by any prisoners. Especially since the guys and the girls weren't separated!

Summer stared at her chain and, with a growl, used Flamethrower. The beam of flames didn't do anything to the chain, so she quickly sat down and used another Flamethrower at point blank range. When she stopped, the chain was completely red, but not melted.

"Oh come on!" she roared as she grabbed it and started trying to break it at the heated part. She started pounding the ground repeatedly in anxiousness before looking around the cell once again. The unconscious Shiftry and Vanilluxe were still in their respective places, nothing was noticeably out of place, there wasn't anything under the bed that she could see, and the toilet was completely broken.

"Come on, come on…" she repeated urgently as she got back on her feet and started feeling around the wall and floors.

Eventually, she felt a weakness in the floor, causing her eyes to widen. Applying pressure in that spot, she was able to break through the floor. There was a key there, much to her happiness.

She grabbed it and quickly tried to unlock herself. Excitedly, she fumbled a bit with the key before finally being able to unlock herself.

Sighing in relief, she got onto her feet and immediately used Fire Blast on the bars, successfully melting them. She looked around for any signs of the warden or guards, and smiled upon seeing none of them. Seeing her opportunity, she rushed out of the cell, getting on all fours to pick up speed. Being that she was on the upper level and her fellow competitors were along the way, she was bombarded with requests to help, but she knew that she'd likely get caught if she did.

"Stop shouting! You'll get me caught!" Summer exclaimed as she scoped the bottom level, where thousands of prisoners, both male and female, were gathered. They were either fighting, talking, arguing, or… fornicating. Yes, the jail had gone downhill exponentially since the All-Star season.

Summer shuddered to herself out of fear. And, due to her and the others not having on any orange jumpsuits like the other prisoners, they were bound to be identified quickly.

She looked around for an opening just when all of the prisoners looked up, gawking at her. Seeing this, she swallowed in nervousness.

"What's going on?" Sola asked, being in a cell close to her.

"They're all-"

"GET HER!"

"Crap!" Summer shrieked as she saw the prisoners start rushing to the stairs. She looked down and saw that there were still thousands on the ground floor beckoning to her while the ones on the stairs got closer. She looked toward the back and noticed a hall with a door at the end of it.

"Fuck…" she cursed.

Taking a risk, she jumped off of the ledge, landing on a table where an Audino was being serviced by a Yungoos. Before she could be grabbed, she used Flamethrower, which the prisoners around her attempted to dodge, giving her a way to run to the hall and the door at the end of it.

Going outside of it, she found herself in a lobby. Summer sighed in relief before growling in anger as she saw Mew and Victini sitting in front of a screen.

Stomping over, she stood in front of them, arms folded.

"Congratulations on surviving and being the first one out of your cell!" Victini chirped enthusiastically.

"You two are _SICK_!" Summer hissed.

"Correction, _he_ is sick," Mew said. "This was all _his_ idea, AGAIN."

Summer glared ferociously at both of them. "How long have we been here?"

Mew shrugged, folding his arms as he turned to Victini. "Let's see," the fennec said, eyeing the clock hanging on the wall. "About...three hours," he answered. "You guys just woke up about an hour or so ago… Lots of unusable, boring footage."

"Oh, well I'm sorry that us awakening to our possible dooms provided no entertainment to your stupid show!"

"Apology accepted," Victini replied with a smile.

Summer growled and attempted to strangle him, but Mew held her back, insisting it wasn't worth it.

 **000**

"Mother of Arceus, I hear them coming," Ace squeaked fearfully as he crossed his hind legs, hearing the patter of footsteps as they approached the cells.

"It's okay Ace, I got this," Shine assured confidently as she steadied herself.

"Oh please, what do you have?" Aura inquired. "Other than a flat ass and lack of a fertile uterus?"

Shine took a deep breath before a pink aura radiated around both her and Ace. Seeing this, Aspen's eyes widened.

"Wait, what'd you just do!?"

"It's none of your concern," Shine replied. "I mean, you sympathize with _Aura_ out of all people. Now, about these keys…"

"No! I demand you do what you did to yourself to me, too!" Aspen stated, putting a paw down.

"Too bad, so sad," Ace teased as the steps and voices got louder. Eventually a huge crowd of Pokemon appeared at the door, startling Aura, who immediately got as far as she could.

There were numerous Dark-types and Fighting-types at their door, among a few others, which, while good for Ace and Shine, was awful for Aura and Aspen.

Eventually, two Machoke grabbed the bars and yanked them off before all of the criminals entered their cell.

"Mmm...sexy little thing aren't you~?" a midnight Lycanroc teased to Aspen as he lifted her tail and yanked her back. She kicked him in the goods, but couldn't go anywhere thanks to the chain.

Aura was just using Ice Beam on every criminal that made their way into the cell, while Ace and Shine remained in the back, protected by the body barriers. Ace was just watching Aura and Aspen struggle, while also fighting back against any criminals that got too close. Shine retrieved a key from a broken brick underneath the bed and tried unlocking herself. It failed.

She quickly handed the key off to Ace. Luckily, he was able to unlock himself and started attacking more as he attempted to help Shine free herself.

 **-000-**

"Do those dumb chains even break?!" Summer exclaimed, watching the footage with the two hosts.

"Oh, they can," Victini laughed. "It's just a certain notch that ya have to hit that's different for each chain. The keys aren't everything."

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT THAT IN THE NOTES?!"

"And what'd be the fun in that?"

Summer twitched.

 **000**

 **Summer: Note to self. Never EVER sign up for another reality show again...**

 **000**

Vixen's eyes were glowing blue as she blasted all of the non-dark-type criminals out of their cell.

"Nice one," Klavier commented as he threw a Scrafty out of the cell aggressively.

"Now move that fucking bed against the door!" Sabrina blustered as she saw more criminals start heading their way.

Vixen, using kinesis, lifted up the mattress of the bed quickly before slamming it into the door, embedding it there. She left the bed frame, as she was still shackled to it.

"Okay, I sincerely doubt that this fucking mattress will hold off these hardened criminals for long," Klavier remarked as the soft material was punched and pushed numerous times.

"Sparky! Can you fucking hurry up with the key?!" Vixen snapped, turning to the Luxray, who was still digging through the toilet trying to get the key he found.

After a few painstakingly disgusting minutes, he finally pulled the key out, shaking the filthy water off of his hands. "Got it!"

He wiped the key on the ground, getting the grime off, before attempting to unlock himself. Much to his chagrin, it didn't work.

"OH COME ON!" the Luxray roared.

"Quick, pass me that key!" Vixen demanded. Sparky obliged, tossing it to the Ninetales, who started trying to unlock herself, with no success. "Fuck!"

"Well, looks li-" Klavier was interrupted as the mattress was forced onto the ground and the criminals entered the cell again, only for Vixen to blast them out once again. "Gimme the key!"

Vixen eyed the key momentarily before thinking about the challenge. The key was going to free one of them, which the Lugias didn't need to happen. Vixen tossed the key back into the toilet, much to the shock and annoyance of the Staraptor and Gliscor.

"Sorry, all in the name of the challenge," Vixen teased, making the two glower at her.

"Where's the other key, spark plug?" Sabrina asked with a glare aimed at Sparky. "You didn't say shit after this bitch got off the bed and the key wasn't there."

Sparky immediately blushed. "Uh, I said I was mistaken."

"Oh really?" Klavier prodded. "Because you seemed pretty adamant that it was on the bed…"

"Well, I-"

"Sparky…" Vixen growled. "Where's the other fucking key?"

"Uh...hey, look! The prisoners are leaving," Sparky acknowledged, attempting to change the subject.

And it was true, it seemed that all of the prisoners were returning to the ground floor for an undetermined reason. And while relief washed over their bodies, the question still stood.

"Come on, where the fuck is the key?!" Klavier exclaimed as he slammed his claw on his chain, unintentionally, but luckily, breaking it. His eyes widened as he got onto his feet and started shaking his leg. "I'M FREE!"

"WHAT?!" the other three blustered.

Klavier quickly flew to the toilet and yanked the key back out, shaking his claws and splashing a bit of dirty water on the Ninetales and Luxray.

He attempted to unlock Sabrina, but came up unsuccessful.

"Craaap," the Staraptor squawked. "Well, try to break my chain, too!"

"Got it!"

"Sparky!" Vixen barked. "WHERE'S THE FUCKING KEY YOU SAW?!"

Sparky groaned. "It's inside you!"

Immediately, all three of the others froze as they stared at him, Vixen's eyes were extremely wide, while the other two exchanged looks of confusion.

"W-What do you mean?" Vixen asked, a blush starting to emerge on her face.

"When I looked on the bed, I thought that you were lying on a key, but when you moved, uh...so did the key," Sparky said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "It's uh...in either your ass or your… er-hem… y'know."

Vixen growled. "Of fucking course it is! And you're right next to me. Those fucks are trying to make me look even _more_ like a slut. BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK!"

Sabrina snickered. "I'd really hate to be in your paws right now," she opined. "Because you can either find a way to break your chain like Klavier or look like you're masturbating or like you're getting fisted by your side piece…"

Vixen was getting agitated at the berating from the surly bird. "Hey, at least my _husband_ has never cheated on me while we were together!"

"Nope, because you're doing that," she retorted. "And what the enunciation of husband supposed to do? Piss me off? Please."

"Everything I've done has either been out of my control or ACCIDENTAL!"

Sparky had been banging on his chain continuously down its line, eventually finding the notch that broke. "Yes!" he whisper shouted. "Vix! Now's not the time to argue about ancient history! Just keep hitting your chain in different parts until it breaks," he explained, hastily padding up to her.

Vixen tightened her glare at the Staraptor before turning back and balling her paw. She proceeded to start banging on the chain at different parts, with Sparky eventually helping her out.

While they did this, Klavier broke Sabrina's chain, hitting the notch closest to the wall.

"Yes!" she squawked. "Let's go!"

She and Klavier immediately took flight out of the cell, leaving the in-laws in the cell.

 **000**

"Will you guys stop arguing and help with our fucking challenge already?!" Striker shouted as Farra and Annie glared daggers at each other. "We just had prisoners come in and one of them tried to use me as a sex toy! I WANNA GET OUT OF HERE!"

Cramad hadn't Sleep Powdered them again, as she needed them awake so that they could help them get out of the cell. Striker, was obviously more than willing, but Farra and Annie were being extremely difficult. As if who loved a cocoon and who he loved more in return even mattered.

"Striker," Cramad spoke. "They're not gonna stop because of you. You're the reason they're arguing in the first place."

"Obviously!" Striker blustered. "What the hell am I supposed to do about it?! I like them both, but just as friends! They're bringing up the past!"

"Just… use String Shot or something to shut them up!" Cramad ordered. "Who knows what those pricks are gonna have these prisoners do next!?"

Hearing that, and recalling what had just happened about ten minutes prior, Striker instantaneously used String Shot on the mouths of both girls, silencing them.

Annie tried to remove the string, but Cramad stopped her.

"No!" the Parasect snapped. "If you're just gonna fucking argue with Farra for the duration of our time here, don't even think about taking that off!"

Annie glared, folding her arms as Farra had a haughty expression on her face, moreso evident by her eyes.

"Okay, now that we've got you two quiet, uh…" Striker started before looking to Cramad. "What now?"

Cramad sighed exasperatedly. "There is a key underneath this mattress. It doesn't unlock _my_ cuff, so it has to go to one of you guys'."

"Okay, well pass it over!" Striker eagerly shouted.

"You have no arms, Striker, how the hell are you going to unlock yourself?" Cramad queried.

"Farra can do it! She's part psychic-type!" Striker assured as Farra nodded in agreement.

"Okay, you have a way to do it, good," Cramad said. "Now, before I give you guys the key, I'm gonna give it to Annie since we're teammates."

Farra, upon hearing that, gained a sneer. Luckily, it was blocked by the strings around her mouth. Only her glare toward the Bellossom was seen.

Cramad lifted up the mattress and retrieved the key once again. Once in view, Farra floated the key in her direction and tried to unlock herself. Much to her happiness, it worked, and she was freed from her cuff.

"Nice work, Farra!"

"Hey!" Cramad exclaimed before she attempted to use Sleep Powder again. Thanks to the strings still around her nose and mouth, Farra didn't breathe in the Sleep Powder, but was getting a bit light-headed in the process. Annie and Striker both breathed it in, causing them to fall asleep again.

Farra took this opportunity to use Shadow Ball on Cramad, knocking her out. As the sleep powder slowly, but surely, dissipated, Farra leaned her face down and used a hoof to get the strings off of her face.

She took a deep breath in, getting a bit groggy from the remaining particles. She was able to shake it off and turned to Striker. She teleported the Metapod into her horns, completely neglecting the chain and shackle, and headed out of the bent bars of the door. She scoped out the area before looking over the edge and seeing the numerous prisoners near the bottom. Looking over, she saw Titan crawling on the walls to the exit, and Freezeo and Macey floating directly there, ignoring the guards and prisoners.

"Hey!" Farra was startled to hear a masculine voice shout at her. Turning to the left, she saw the Machamp warden charging at her. Eyes widening, she used Psychic, blasting him away.

"That should do it," she said as she leapt off of the edge and landed on a Mudsdale. With a groan, she tried getting up, only to be forced back down by a Electivire.

She felt Striker be taken from her horns and immediately grew concerned, especially after what happened earlier. She used Psychic once again, knocking a good chunk of the criminals away from herself.

She needed to get Striker back. Looking around, she saw him about to be _used_ by a Nidoqueen. Growling, she used Psyshock, knocking it away and allowing her to float him back in her direction. The criminals started getting up again, and she quickly strode toward the exit with Striker back in her horns.

 **000**

"With that crazy bitch gone, maybe we'll get somewhere," Cano said, getting onto his feet. He turned his attention to Kojo, who'd been sitting down against the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Kojo, you still there?"

"Yes," the Mienshao drawled. "Unfortunately."

"Well, there's a panel on the wall where you moved the bed," Cano revealed, causing Brian's eyes to widen. "I think I have something that'll help us out."

"What?!" the Reuniclus blustered. "When did you procure this intel?!"

"I used my _eyes_ , Brian," Cano replied. "Now, Kojo, get up and move the bed away from the wall."

With a sigh, Kojo got onto his feet and lowered the bed onto the ground and moved it away from the wall, revealing a silver panel with five wheels on them.

"Okay, now what?" Kojo queried, folding his arms.

"What do the wheels have on them?" the Arcanine inquired.

Peering down momentarily, Kojo quickly responded, "Numbers."

"Okay, great," Cano replied. "Try putting 3, 5, 3, 7, 9."

"Why those numbers?" the weasel asked. "They seem oddly specific."

"Just do it, man! I wanna get the hell out of here!"

Kojo grumbled to himself before getting down on his knees to put in the numbers Cano told him to. He spun each wheel, putting 3, 5, 3, 7, and 9 in that order. Once that was done, the panel blinked before firing off of the wall, hitting Kojo in the face.

"OW!" he exclaimed, rubbing his face. Looking inside, there were two keys and a lock pick.

"Perfect. One for each of us to try," Cano said.

"Actually," Brian started. "If one uses the lock pick, all of us could get out quickly."

Kojo seemed to already know that, as he quickly unlocked his cuff and rubbed his aching ankle. He tossed the lock pick to Brian without saying a word and headed out of the bent bars of their cell. Going out, Kojo noticed that the other competitors' door bars had been either bent, completely removed, or untouched. He peered over the edge and decided to just go through the crowd of criminals.

Going down the stairs, he was almost immediately pounced on by female inmates, along with a few males.

He had to shake them all off, as they realized who he was. Cano and Brian, coming out after, floated toward the exit while some of the prisoners were invested with Kojo's presence.

 **000**

Fez, Dhaunt, Marion, Rapid, Sola, Ashton, Luna, Morgan, and Lassie all followed the Arcanine and Reuniclus' example.

Fez was able to unlock himself with the pin in his cell and used the pin to help Dhaunt out as well before tossing the pin out of the cell to keep Egridos and Amethyst from unlocking themselves.

Marion, Rapid, Sola, and Ashton were all able to free themselves from their cell using Ashton's vines, and by bashing the chains until they broke. It took an entire twenty minutes for any results to show, but they eventually succeeded.

The three keys that fell from the sack in Morgan's cell were used to unlock herself, Luna, and Lassie. The Mightyena and Froslass rushed out immediately, but Morgan had to worry about Connor. With this unwillingness to help, and the fact that she couldn't find another key, Morgan had to leave him there.

 **000**

"Why'd you leave him!?" Farra exclaimed upon seeing the Persian return without the Bouffalant.

"Hey, you saw!" Morgan shouted back, gesturing to the screen. "He didn't help with anything and I couldn't find another key!"

"You have to go back in get him! You may have just cost us the challenge!" Striker chimed in.

"Nope, once you're out, you're out," Victini replied. "Better hope someone else notices."

The escaped Lugias gave Morgan disapproving glares, much to her anger.

 **000**

 **Morgan: Right. I actually contribute to the conversation and searching in** _ **my**_ **cell, but I'm the bad girl for leaving the guy who didn't do shit after I** _ **tried**_ **finding another key!**

 **I swear, if we lose and these guys blame me, I'm going to be glad I'm gone because it's bullshit.**

 **000**

Marie was currently trying to bite the chain off of Anthony's shackle. She had tried looking for another key in the toilet (after knocking out Taylor), but nothing was inside of the tank or bowl. It didn't help that she had his chain near his crotch and she was on her knees. At a weird angle, it looked like something else was happening.

Carson, who had been thawing due to the temperature of the cell, saw this scene and immediately blushed.

"Uh… What's going on here?!" he queried.

"Feraligatr Purse is still trying to get Cannon Shell's chain off by sucking him off, what do you think?" Taylor commented, immediately causing Marie to stop and turn to face him. "FUCK YOU!"

Anthony punched the chain in the section she was biting, breaking it.

"Yes!" the Blastoise exclaimed as he got onto his feet and grabbed Marie around her waist to keep her from tearing into Taylor. "Turn him into sushi after the challenge. Now's not the time!"

Marie groaned. "Fine," she growled as Anthony put her down. "Now, let's get out of here!"

Anthony nodded as the two of them headed out of their cell, leaving Carson and Taylor alone. Taylor growled in annoyance. "Great, just great!"

Carson, looking at himself, teleported the cuff and the remainder of the ice off before floating over to Taylor, who had a mix between a bewildered look and an annoyed expression.

"What?" the bell asked.

"You could have done that this entire time… AND YOU DECIDE TO DO IT NOW!?"

Carson shrugged as he teleported the cuff off of Milotic, only for him to smack the bell with his tail.

 **000**

 **Taylor: Idiot**

 **000**

 **Carson: Hey, I didn't think about it until they left. Sorry...**

 **000**

Chlotz sat up, rubbing his head as he saw Ace, Shine, Sparky, Vixen, Annie, and Cramad rush by. He saw that the bars were melted as well, raising alarm as he saw that both he and Frosty were still cuffed to the toilet and bed.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed as he got onto his feet. "Frosty! FROSTY!"

The Vanilluxe groaned as floated up and saw the cuff around his body. "What is it?"

"We're still trapped!"

"What?!" Frosty questioned, looking around. "You've gotta be kidding me! Ugh, what even happened?"

"I dunno. I just remember waking up, seeing a Typhlosion, then falling back asleep," Chlotz expounded.

"Same here," Frosty said. "Jeez. Summer needs to learn to calm down. It wasn't necessary to knock us out."

"Well, hopefully someone will get us out of here soon," Chlotz said, taking a seat on the toilet. "I mean, if that's what's _supposed_ to happen anyway…"

"Uh, I think we're supposed to try and get out of here ourselves, dude," Frosty replied.

"What? How the heck would we do that?" Chlotz blustered, getting back on his feet.

"I don't know, but it's possible if the others are getting out," said Frosty as he saw both Aura and Aspen run past.

"Ugh! If Summer hadn't knocked us out, we'd know what to do and we'd probably be out by now, too!"

"Likely, that is true…" said Frosty. "But, considering that it'd be the two of us against just her and we'd have to escape, she'd end up doing the same thing."

Chlotz sighed.

 **000**

Phill was banging his head against the wall in agitation as Pia droned on and on, not stopping to help despite saying that she would.

"And that's why-"

"SHUT UP!" Phill shrieked. "Shut. The fuck. UP!"

"Phill, you sh-"

"No!" Phill interjected. "I'm tired of this! We've been here for more than an HOUR with her blabbing about shit that _no one cares about!_ None of us have even gotten lucky finding a damn key, and she hasn't stopped!"

"That's because the gov-"

"STOP IT!" Phill yelled, startling all three still in the cell. The Raticate had to take a deep breath to recompose himself. "Okay. Pia. You are a psychic-type. I'm going to require you to teleport you and me out of here so that I don't end up pulling out my whiskers one by one."

Skore and Holly exchanged looks of concern, given Phill's abrasiveness. However, when they looked back, both the Raticate and Hypno were gone.

Skore twitched. "Holly, you're a psychic-type, too, right? Can't you-?"

"No. Sadly," Holly replied.

"Cruuud," Skore groaned.

 **000**

"Alright, the Ho-Ohs only need Annie and Cramad to get out and they've won," Mew stated. "Lugias, you're still nine players short, so you'd better hope that they start finding keys, breaking chains, or finding any other way to free themselves."

"This is fucking bullshit!" Victini cursed. "This was supposed to be intense and painful like last time! This is a snoozefest! Ugh, underdogs just make anything dull…"

All of the campers glared daggers at the fennec.

 **000**

Egridos was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. He didn't know where another key would be located, and he couldn't search because of the cuff around his body.

Amethyst had put the bed back and climbed onto it, facing away from Egridos. After her accidental blunder caused Fez and Dhaunt to get away, she was scolded and threatened with elimination.

After that, she just put the bed down and lied on it. While she lied there, a thought popped into her head. Egridos was a _ghost-type_ , so couldn't he just phase out? She wanted to bring up the thought, but she was unsure about how to approach the situation.

Taking a deep breath, she got onto all fours and hopped off of the bed. Her sudden movement got Egridos' attention momentarily. Seeing this, she started to speak, but nothing came out and he proceeded to stare at the ceiling again.

"U-Uh… C-can't you just phase out of the c-cuff if you're a ghost-type?" she meekly inquired, her eyes on the ground.

Egridos, upon hearing that, floated upright. "It took you _that long_ to come up with _that_?"

"S-Sorry," she squeaked, fumbling with her feet.

"Yep, so am I," Egridos said as the cuff around him suddenly dropped onto the ground. He floated toward her and picked her up before yanking the cuff off of her foot, causing her pain as her foot bent downward.

The Amaura whimpered as Egridos carried her like luggage out of the cell.

 **000**

Reta and Sally, having been frozen ever since Freezeo and Titan read the note, had finally thawed out and, understandably, they were pissed.

"Oh-ho Freezeo is going to _pay_ for that," Reta growled, shivering a bit.

Looking around, Sally noticed that the lightbulb was busted and a brick had been removed from the wall near the door. Both of them were able to hear the goal before being frozen, so they were determined to get out.

Sally, who was sitting on the bed, got off of it and lifted up the mattress. She acknowledged that there was a reddish-brown stain underneath, as well as on the concrete floor. Strangely, two words seemed to be spelled out: 'BRICK' and 'FLUSH' _._

"Flush?" Sally asked to herself, looking to the toilet that Reta was shackled to.

Reta removed the toilet tank cover, but came up empty, as nothing was there, not even water. This caused her a bit of confusion, as the toilet bowl was also empty.

"What the hell does it mean by flush if the toilet doesn't have anything inside of it?" Reta questioned annoyedly.

"Maybe… Flush it?" Sally suggested with a shrug. "If nothing happens, we know that this was a front."

Reta pressed the lever of the toilet, and immediately a pile of poker cards was dropped from the ceiling along with a tube.

"What the heck is this?!" Reta blustered.

Sally, using her tail, rolled the tube closer to herself, before picking it up. She untwisted one end and shook it, causing a scroll of paper to slide out.

She started to read the paper. " _If thou wanteth to be free, thou must-"_

 **000**

"THE HO-OHS WIN!" Mew interjected as all of the remaining Lugias were teleported out of their cells.

"Oh come on!" Reta exclaimed. "Freezeo froze us in our cell!"

"Hey, that happened to you, too?" Carson questioned. "Annoying, right?"

"Hey, at least you weren't knocked out for no reason!" Frosty added, glowering at Summer, who rolled her eyes.

"Eh, I guess this wasn't a _total_ bust," Victini said. "Vixen and Sparky shared a rather 'intimate' moment, we got more arguments and disturbing imagery, and you all seemed to hate life while in there, as you should have."

"I will turn you into puppy chow," Cano growled, his teeth bared.

"Hey, your brother's the one who fisted your wife. She had nine tails she could have used _and_ she was able to use psychic-type moves to defend her cell against the criminals, so there's pretty much no excuse there…"

Sparky twitched, while Vixen snarled at the hosts.

"Okay let's get out of here," Mew said. "You guys reek of prison and desperately need showers. And Lugias, we'll be seeing you at elimination tonight."

 **000**

 **Vixen: I hate, hate,** _ **hate**_ **this fucking show. After all of that bullshit; the panic and hurriedness, they expected me to think like** _ **that**_ **instead of thinking how they wanted me to think! Fuck this!**

 **000**

Kojo was the first one to finish showering. Heading back to the loser cabin, he couldn't help but recall the dozens of female inmates who showed attention to him. Being surrounded like that only made him think about Floatzelle and the amount of guys she was probably servicing in his absence. With a sigh, he sat at the steps of the old, raggedy wooden cabin.

On her way to meet Marie and Anthony on the beach, Summer passed by the loser cabin and saw Kojo looking down dejectedly. Now, she wasn't the type to really care about others' feelings enough to try and uplift them, but there was something about Kojo that drew her to him. She couldn't explain it, but she felt that if she talked to him, something positive would happen.

"Uh… Hi, Kojo," she greeted, approaching him.

Looking up, Kojo smiled softly upon seeing Summer, but it immediately reverted back to a frown. "Hey," he responded tonelessly.

"Um… What's up?" she asked, rubbing an arm.

Kojo let out a dejected sigh before lying on his back. "Nothing. It's just... girl issues."

Summer raised a brow. When they first got here, she somewhat recalled Phill mentioning a 'model bitch' when referring to him. Now she was a bit curious. Marie and Anthony could wait.

"I'm listening," she said, taking a seat next to him.

"Oh right, you _are_ a girl," Kojo jokingly replied, causing Summer to scoff.

"Don't make me burn your balls off," she teased.

"Hey, I haven't gotten any action in years, they're pretty useless anyway," he mumbled, crestfallen.

"What's going on with you and this 'model bitch', anyway?" Summer asked. "Like, are you two really together? Is it one-sided?"

"No offense Summer, but...why are you showing interest in me all of a sudden?" Kojo inquired. "You hardly ever acknowledged me in this way before."

Summer didn't really know how to answer that. She just had a feeling that something fortunate would happen with this interaction. And, deep down, she was actually enjoying talking to him. Like he said, she hardly ever truly acknowledged him, so maybe this could be the start of a change for her.

"Just...trying to start conversing more with others is all," she responded.

Kojo chuckled. "Well, congrats, you're actually doing well with me. I only ever talked about this with Phill. He's the only real friend I have in this game."

"Well, if you want, you can count me as a friend as well," Summer said, rubbing his back as he sat up.

Kojo chortled. "Thanks."

"Now, tell me what's wrong," she said, scooting closer to him.

Kojo took a deep breath before he started detailing the issues of his relationship. From the lack of intimacy, to the constant cheating, to the threats of career destruction. Hearing what he was going through, Summer couldn't help but feel poorly for the Mienshao.

"So yeah, at this very moment she's probably getting dicked down by four guys at the exact same time with zero consequences," Kojo expounded. "Meanwhile if I even think about getting laid by someone else or want to dump her ass, I get threatened and exploited. I'll never work in PokeStar Studios again."

"That… That's fucking bullshit," Summer seethed. "That little bitch _cannot_ get away with that!"

"There's nothing that I can do about it, so there's no point in getting angry about it," Kojo drawled, resting a cheek on his paw.

"Kojo, you do not deserve to go through this," Summer growled. "Nobody does. And don't get angry? Please Kojo, I know that you're absolutely pissed. I used to act like how you are now when I was a Cyndaquil. When I evolved, though, I grew a backbone and didn't care about what others thought. You can't let her control you."

"She's not controlling me," Kojo countered.

"Kojo, you haven't gotten laid in _months_ , you said, and you two are supposedly in a relationship?" Summer said in a questioning manner. "Then, _you_ are the one who can't do any infidelity or else _your_ career is done, while hers is safe no matter what? I'm sorry, but I call bullshit."

"Well, what do you think I should do, then?" Kojo asked as others began to return from the showers.

"I'd say get back at her somehow and just assert yourself, but you can't do that unless you get eliminated…"

"And I'm trying to _not_ make that happen," Kojo replied. "Plus, she thinks that these shows are dumb anyway, so even if I did do something here, she wouldn't know unless someone told her."

"Well, I don't know what to say about that, but just know that you can talk to me about anything, okay?" she said jauntily.

A small smile appeared on Kojo's face. "Gotcha."

The Typhlosion rose up and started heading to the beach once again to meet up with her alliance, not knowing that Kojo was ogling her as she left. The Mienshao took a breath before rising to his feet and heading into the cabin.

 **000**

 **Summer: I think the talk with Kojo did both of us some good. I actually feel...a bit fulfilled. It's hard to explain, but...it feels great.**

 **000**

 **Kojo: It was kinda weird having Summer talk to me at first, but I felt myself getting calmer and slightly confident as we kept conversing. I'm glad that I can count on** _ **her**_ **, as well as Phill now. And, I'll just say it now, she's very** _ **hot**_ **.**

 **000**

Ace was making his way to the loser cabin as well, when he noticed Cano, Luna, Vixen, Shine, Morgan, Sparky, and Sola sitting at the gazebo. He was a tad bit wary and confused as to why Cano and Luna were there considering that their team won, but he eventually chalked it up to 'because spouse'.

As he passed by, he heard himself being called by Shine.

"Ace! Do you mind coming over here for a sec?" the Espeon inquired.

He had a feeling that he knew what she was going to ask him, but he still obliged. Padding over, he was met with neutral expressions, as if he was about to be crucified by a jury.

"Yeah?" the Sylveon asked anxiously.

"We're just trying to see who you were going to vote for," Morgan explained. " _I_ was saying Connor since he didn't do anything to help me or himself in the challenge, but these guys are saying Skore."

"What?" Ace questioned, tilting his head in confusion. "If Connor didn't do anything in the challenge, why keep him in?"

"Uh, here's the thing, though," Sparky started. " Skore didn't make it out either. Nor did Holly, Chlotz, Frosty, Reta, or Sally."

"And given the others' circumstances, Skore, Holly, and Connor are the only three that had no reason to fail," Vixen explained. "And, if you think about it from a standpoint regarding the game overall, Skore is the one that needs to go. He's won already, he has a good relationship, and he has a large set of friends. Him making it any further would be unfair."

"Uh, Vix, you've already won, too," Morgan countered. "Your relationship is… well, I'll say _decent_ at this point, and this friend-family group of yours is pretty big, so wouldn't eliminating you make sense in that case?"

"There's a difference in that _this_ is the worst show imaginable. The one I won was pretty much child's play in comparison to all of this bullshit," Vixen retorted. "Skore winning the same game twice is much more inequitable."

Ace, upon receiving all of this info, was at a standstill. He was going to vote for Egridos because of his annoying 'Fourth Wall' screaming, but now he really had to think about it. "Well, now I have more things to think about. Great…"

The Sylveon left, leaving the group. "Hopefully he makes the right choice," Morgan hoped.

 **000**

Freezeo, Rapid, Reta, Sally, Chlotz, and Pia were at the edge of land separating the sand of the beach from the forest.

"What the hell, Freeze?!" Chlotz exclaimed. "Why'd you freeze them in place!?"

"Hey, I had to win the challenge somehow!" Freezeo answered. "Do you see who I have on my team? I'm afraid to fucking screw up!"

"You still made it out of the cell anyway! We wouldn't have gotten in your way at all!" Reta shouted.

"Some of the others even fucking helped each other so that all four could escape!" Sally growled, glowering at him.

"Uh, yeah… I saw that when Titan and I got out," Freezeo said sheepishly. "Sorry. Won't happen again."

"It'd better not," Reta threatened. "Now because of you, we have to vote someone off. You owe us."

"What?!"

"You heard her," Chlotz chimed in. " _You owe us_."

"What the hell am I supposed to do about that?" Freezeo asked.

"We'll let you know when it'll take place. Don't you worry," Sally said, keeping her glare.

Pia and Rapid remained silent, just listening, no look of concern on either of their faces.

 **000**

 **Freezeo: Great, now I have a chance of going home if me '** _ **owing**_ **' them requires me throw a challenge. Arceus, damn it all!**

 **000**

"Farra, are you still mad about the alliance thing this morning?" Frosty questioned as he and Skore gave heed to the fact that the Girafarig held Striker in her horns as they sat around the currently unoccupied elimination bonfire. "We just wanted you to have an option if you didn't feel like doing anything with just us guys since… y'know, the challenge thing, and your relationsh-"

"It's fine," Farra interrupted. "I suppose I overreacted a bit. I guess the bastard being brought up agitated me, and the fact that you guys didn't automatically include me in something made me rethink the circumstances that led to him dumping me. It's stupid, and I'm sorry."

"Aw, it's okay," Skore said. "We're just glad that you're fine again."

Farra nodded. "So who do we vote out?"

"I'd say Summer, but she's not on the team," Frosty commented. "So, I guess… Connor."

"Yeah, besides us, he didn't get out even though Morgan did," Skore said.

"Yeah, but Morgan still left him. That's not cool," Striker said. "She claims to have tried, but it didn't do anything."

"But, she's still a better teammate since she got out and attempted to help," Farra said.

"Yeah, so let's just get rid of Connor," Skore nodded. "His performance today _was_ deplorable, no offense to him."

Suddenly, the fire ignited, startling all four of them. "LUGIAS! REPORT TO THE BONFIRE! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR ELIMINATION!" Victini announced before noticing the four of them already there. "Oh, you guys are here early. Pretty good, pretty good…"

 **000**

All of the members of the Loser Lugias made their way to the bonfire, taking their seats on the numerous flat-topped stones. Some of them had confident expressions, while a few others were unsure about what to make of the situation.

"Welcome to your first elimination ceremony on Total Pokemon: Underdogs!" Victini greeted. "Now, as we told the Horrible Ho-Ohs during _their_ ceremony, the elimination ceremony remains the same. Drop your votes in the box in the confessional and make your way back. Sabotage or vote tampering is NOT allowed, as it has been overdone and is just plain boring. Finally, there are two immunity idols hidden around this island that can save your heinies from elimination."

"Wouldn't it have been better to announce that to _everyone_ when we first got here so that we could get a head start!?" Chlotz exclaimed.

"What? You expect me to believe that _you_ would find one that fast?" Victini teased, causing Chlotz to fold his arms in embarrassment. "Puh-lease."

"Can we just get this vote over with?" Kojo asked annoyedly.

"Make your way to the confessional and cast your votes," Mew instructed.

 **000**

Everyone slipped in their votes.

 **000**

"Alright, the votes have been tallied," said Mew. "When I call your name, you guys are safe."

Everyone had an idea of who was going, so hardly any of them showed any true concern.

"Taylor, Ace, Amethyst, Carson, Holly, and Ashton, you guys had no votes against you," Mew said. "Also part of the no vote party, Kojo, Reta, Chlotz, Sally, Frosty, Striker, Farra, Sparky, Shine, Sola, and Vixen."

Macey, Egridos, Morgan, Connor, and Skore were left.

"Macey and Egridos, you each only one vote, so you two are safe as well," Mew said.

"Good," Egridos said, folding his arms as Macey smiled.

"Morgan, you had only two votes, so you are also safe," the New Species Pokemon declared, allowing the Persian to sigh in relief.

Connor and Skore exchanged looks.

"Well, this is something," said Mew. "Who's going home tonight? Connor, you did nothing to try and escape, and even with assistance, you still didn't do well."

Connor looked down in shame.

"And Skore, you've already won the game before, and you're only here to make up for not being in All-Stars, PLUS, you didn't escape from your cell either, so… the player going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… Skore."

Connor let out a sigh of relief, while Skore glowered at the hosts in agitation.

"Time to go, Skore," Victini chirped.

"What's the freaking point of bringing me back into this stupid game if you know everyone's going to vote me out early?!" Skore inquired.

"Your TPI status," Victini replied simply.

Skore groaned as he rose up.

"See ya later, bud," Frosty said.

"Take care," Striker said as Farra lifted a hoof to wave.

 **000**

Skore was on a dock, which had a large, transparent tube that led to an unknown destination underwater.

"Well Skore, since Clay's still AWOL, you get to be the first one to try our new elimination method: The _Suck_ of Shame!"

"Uh… What?!" Skore exclaimed, completely surprised by it.

"Get on inside…" Victini prodded, floating behind and starting to push him.

"W-What the hell does this even lead to?!" Skore hollered.

"You'll find out soon enough," Victini said as he finally shoved the Drapion into the tube, which sucked him down like a powerful vacuum. Skore let out a horrified screech as he was sucked away.

"What horrid challenge will I put these losers through next?" Victini questioned, looking to the camera. "Find out next time, here on Total...Pokemon: Underdogs!"

"Seriously, where does this thing lead?" Mew questioned.

"Ultra Space," Victini replied with his same smile. Hearing this caused Mew to facepalm.

 **000**

 **And...Skore's gone! It's not like he needed to win again anyway. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Skore: Review, I guess…**


	4. Baby, You're Electric

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon Underdogs! The contestants were taken to jail and had to devise a way to escape. While some players took the easy way out, others struggled to find the keys needed for their freedom. Many alliances were formed, as well as a few friendships, most notably Marie, Anthony, and Summer, the Mini-Ded Group, and the Ghoul Gang. In the challenge, the campers endured a rough and annoying time, but in the end, the Ho-Ohs emerged victorious. And because he was there even though he already won, the Lugias bid farewell to Skore with the newest elimination method, the** _ **Suck**_ **of Shame!**

 **Who will be the next one vacuumed away? Who will be here to stay? Find out right now on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Hours following the Lugias' elimination ceremony, Macey floated to Brian's 'lair' in order to check on the development of her new fantasy actualizer. At least she was hoping that it was still being developed. Her constant pestering surely vexed the Reuniclus to no end, so she was certain that he would be either still working on, or finished, with her weapon of mass affection.

Upon entering the self-proclaimed evil genius' lair, she saw that he was fast asleep on his inflatable mattress. He had a light blue sheet draped over him and he was faintly snoring. Macey growled to herself before she looked over to his work station and saw a ray gun sitting there.

With a jaunty, excited smirk, she floated over to the ray with a sick grin creeping onto her face. She floated over to Brian's sleeping form and kissed his cheek before floating out of the cave.

 **000**

 **Macey: PERFECT! IT'S FINALLY DONE! CANO WILL FINALLY BE MY MASTER SEME! I'll need to do it at the right time, though, these people know nothing how true love works and will surely eliminate me if they discover that it was my doing.**

 **000**

The following morning, the males on the Lugias were slowly starting to emerge from their stiff, uncomfortable slumber.

"Ugh…" Kojo groaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes before feeling a tingling in his back. "Arceus, these beds are shit."

"No shit, Sherlock," Taylor responded as he slithered off of the individual bed against the back wall. "We're in the loser cabin, so of course these beds are going to be awful…"

Faint snoring was heard, getting all of the guys' attention. They proceeded to look around until they finally acknowledged the source.

"Well, apparently it wasn't that awful for Sleeping Ugly over there," Egridos commented, eyeing Chlotz with a scowl.

Ace, using one of his ribbons, attempted to push him onto his back to quiet him, but accidentally made him fall from the top bunk he was in, causing him to land flat on his face.

"Oops! Sorry Chlotz!" Ace called as she heard the Shiftry groan in pain.

"We need to make sure that we don't lose again," Sparky commented, looking groggily from his bunk, which was over Striker's. "I do _not_ want another near sleepless night."

"Maybe if your brother's wife was in here you'd sleep like a baby," Egridos remarked churlishly.

Sparky snarled at the coffin. "Lay. Off," he seethed.

"Seriously, why are you guys so content with bringing up mistakes and rumors?" Carson queried. "What Vixen did was all accidental or unintentional!"

"He fisted her cunt to get a fucking key out when she could have gotten it on her own!" Taylor blustered. "If that type of interaction was the first thing that came to their minds then obviously something more has happened!"

"I'M MARRIED, TOO, YOU FUCK!" Sparky hissed. "I'd never do that to Luna!"

"Hmm… Low class shaggy mutt? Or golden furred fox? Honestly, I don't blame you at all. Your brother's wife definitely would be a better lay," Egridos chimed in.

Sparky twitched angrily, glaring daggers at both the Cofagrigus and the Milotic. Suddenly, a slightly sinister grin appeared on the Luxray's face. "You wanna run that by me again? My wife is a what?" he asked in a suspiciously honeyed tone.

A few of the guys were immediately wary and grew fearful upon hearing that tone of voice from him. His wife had just been insulted and he sounded 'happy'? This could not end well.

"What? Low class shaggy mutt?"

Sparky sneered maliciously. "That's it…"

 **000**

Connor, who had been absent from the Lugias' cabin, mooed as he awoke from his slumber. He didn't really trust being with _all_ of the guys of his team. At least in the winner's cabin, there were a select amount of beds and they were all actually comfortable. Because of all of this, he decided to create himself a bed of leaves and sleep near the beach.

Stretching, he decided to head back to the campgrounds just so his team knew where he was, if they were even concerned to begin with.

Plodding back to the campgrounds, he noticed that all of the girls from his team were outside of the loser cabin, no guys. This perplexed him a bit as he got closer. He then noticed Sola peering through a window before running toward the Winner's Cabin.

When he was finally in the presence of the others, the girls held confused expressions.

"Connor? What are you doing? Why aren't you in there?!" Farra yelled at him, causing him to flinch.

"I-I slept somewhere else!" Connor replied. "What happened?"

"We don't know, but apparently Scar is in there throwing a hissy fit or something," Reta commented, seemingly not caring.

"And none of you psychic-types decided to do something to stop it?" Connor queried, raising a brow.

"Sola's getting something that'll work better," Shine replied.

Seconds after that was said, the Absol returned, with Luna in tow. She didn't have any real expression of concern, seemingly used to this and knowing the triggers of this side of Sparky.

"What the hell is with you girls and boning the psychopaths?" Farra questioned. "Seriously. You girls always end up calming them down when they get all crazy. You're literally carbon copies for each psycho."

"And you were obsessed with and wanted to have a family with a Metapod," Vixen retorted with a huff. "Guess we each have our problems, huh?"

Luna used Shadow Ball, demolishing the door, before calmly walking inside. A lot of the guys rushed out immediately, their bodies burned and fur spiked due to the amount of electricity zapped into them. Electricity was still seen bouncing about the inside of the cabins before eventually a yell of pain was heard from inside, followed by a _thump_.

Everyone stared at the doorway in confusion and anticipation before Luna strolled out of the cabin, dragging the now unconscious Luxray by his tail. She released him once he was outside of the door.

"Word to the wise, try not to pester him too much or insult me," Luna commented, eyeing the shaken guys of the Lugias.

"HEY! THAT WAS EGRIDOS AND TAYLOR'S FAULT!" Ace panted.

"Yeah, they're the ones who kept calling you a mutt and insinuating that he and Vixen are having an affair!" Carson revealed.

"They _what_?!" Vixen shouted before growling softly. "This is _really_ getting annoying."

"Plus, how were we supposed to know he was gonna act like that?" Striker asked as Farra held him in her horns.

"Yeah, he never did or acted anything like this in the entire time that we've known him!" Frosty added, still rather shaken.

"I guess with age comes rage," Chlotz commented as he twitched unintentionally due to the electricity. "Specifically deadly rage in regard to anyone related to him by blood!"

"This was just a minor inconvenience," Sola remarked. "He'll be fine when he wakes back up. Right, Luna?"

Luna lifted the Luxray onto her back before peering back into cabin. A charred, unconscious Egridos and Taylor lied inside of the now even more shabby cabin. She really didn't have any remorse for either, as they caused this side of her husband to be released from nowhere, and started heading back to the Winner's Cabin, which seemed to remain undisturbed by the commotion.

"Wait, so that's it?" Kojo queried. "Dumb and dumber in there get _us_ zapped and the Luxray gets to go to the Winner's Cabin?!"

"What do you want? A cookie?" Sally inquired. "So you guys got zapped by some electricity? You'll be fine."

"Coming from another electric-type, that doesn't make anything sound better," Chlotz drawled.

"Just go get cleaned up. It'll fade away eventually," Shine suggested as she and the other girls either headed back into their side of the cabin or went somewhere else.

The guys and Farra, who remained behind because of Striker, exchanged looks of annoyance and sadness. Connor, being the only one unaffected by the assault, didn't know what to say or if he should say anything at all. He obviously didn't need to say anything anyway, as the guys proceeded to give him looks of anger due to his lack of injury.

Seeing those glares, the Bouffalant took off immediately out of fear. The guys groaned before deciding to do what Shine advised and head to the showers.

 **000**

In the Winner's Cabin, Cano, Anthony, Fez, Phill, and Klavier, were snoozing peacefully in their beds. It was approaching 10 AM and they were all blissfully unaware about what had just transpired in the campgrounds. The other occupants of the cabin, with the exception of Luna, were in the same pacific state of slumber.

As the sun shined in through the window, Phill slowly emerged from his bed, rubbing his eyes and clearing his ears of any buildup that may have appeared overnight. The Raticate wasn't able to really dream at all last night due to his situation of being back in the presence of horrid hosts on a dangerous reality show. As he looked around at the other males in the room with him, he couldn't help but feel confident about his chances this time around.

His team had powerhouses, intellectuals, strategists, the averages like himself, and then there was Pia. The current bane of his existence, taking the place of pineapple pizza memes. Her constant blabbering about conspiracies and weird tactics really agitated him, as it added absolutely nothing to anything. Being in that cell with her _definitely_ did not help him gain a like for the _new_ newbies from the 5.2 season. So far, the only ones that he could deem as normal were Ace and Chlotz.

He groaned, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. There was no use in focusing on the one negative of his team. Unintentionally, his groan caused the other guys to shift in their sleep, eventually waking them up as well.

"Oops, sorry guys," Phill apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Klavier let out a long moan as he stared at the roof of the cabin. "I do _not_ want to move this spot, man."

"So, you want to be bedridden for the rest of your life?" Anthony said snarkily as he sat up, rubbing his head. "That's gonna be hard if you're trying to scramble the eggs in Sabrina's nest."

"Could you please not?" Klavier pleaded, giving the Blastoise a stern look while remaining in the bed. The Blastoise chuckled as he rose up.

"Well, I'm gonna go fix myself some cereal. Hopefully these fucks have Frosted Flakes or Apple Jacks or something," Anthony commented as he started heading out of their room.

"Wait, they have cereal!?" Klavier said with sudden interest.

"I saw some boxes on top of the fridge when we first got in here. Unlike the rest of you, I stayed up and explored this place a bit," Anthony replied haughtily, folding his arms.

Klavier was already up and out of the room by the time the Shellfish Pokemon opened his eyes back up. Anthony rolled his eyes upon realizing this and headed out, with Phill following.

Cano was getting out of his bed, which was in a corner of the room, getting ready to follow the others out. However, as he got to his feet, Fez got his attention.

"Hey, Cano, can I ask you something?" the Unfezant inquired as the Legendary Pokemon stopped with a sigh and turned to face him.

"What?" he drawled.

"I don't mean to come off as rude or a jackass-"

"Even though you pretty much accused my wife of being a whore to try and save yourself in the first challenge-" Cano interrupted.

Fez groaned. The Arcanine still hadn't forgotten about that. "Look, I admit, that was wrong of me, but could you just forget about that and have a serious conversation with me? Male to male?"

Cano gave him a distrusting look, but stayed put. He took a deep breath. "Fine."

"Thanks," Fez breathed. "Now, don't take this the wrong way, but… Why are you still with Vixen?"

Cano tightened his glare before starting to walk away again, only for Fez to fly in front of the door, blocking him.

"You said that you'd have a serious conversation with me," Fez reminded him. "I'm not trying to pry into your life, I just want answers for myself."

"What could you possible get out of questioning me about me and wife's relationship?" Cano inquired brashly.

"Look, I just want to know why Sabrina dumped _me_ for cheating, but you've still stayed loyal to Vixen despite the numerous _escapades_ she's been a part of," Fez finally admitted. "Like, shouldn't you get a divorce if all of this is happening?"

"Look, I'm not an idiot, okay," Cano snapped. "Do you have any idea how many people outside of this game call me a dumb, boring cuck because of this shit? Do you know how many fights I've almost gotten into because of dumbasses thinking that I'm gonna let them harass my wife in front of me? Do you know how much we've both been hurt by this stupid show?"

"Uh, well-"

"No, you fucking _don't_ ," Cano growled, glowering at the bird. "Everything that happened with Vixen in this stupid show was done without her control, but people still paint her as a slut no matter what she does. So no, I haven't divorced her or even thought about it because I love her. If I found out that she _was_ actually cheating, _then_ there's a possibility."

" You actually had control in your fucking choices", he continued. "You chose to cheat, and now you're regretting everything because there's a slim chance that she may move on and you don't want that."

Fez, hearing his harsh words, flew out of his way, allowing him to pass. The Unfezant let out a depressed sigh.

 **000**

 **Fez: What the hell am I supposed to do to get her back? Let her sleep with someone else?**

 **Wait, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea. If she has sex with someone else, it'll even it out and we can go back to normal!**

 **000**

Aura stretched as she prepared to get out of her bed. Looking around her room, she noticed that both Lassie and Annie were out of their beds, as they were empty. Rolling her eyes, she looked to her side and saw that Aspen was having a very vivid dream, given that the Furfrou was panting softly with her tongue out and a sleeping mask over her eyes.

She couldn't help but to giggle that the sight. Gazing over to the bed near the window, the Glaceon noticed that there was an unusually larger shape underneath the covers. That was Luna's bed, and she knew that she was a fat pig, but even then, she shouldn't be _that_ big. The covers were also moving up and down in a steady motion, which immediately alerted her as to what was happening.

Grinning deviously, she went over to the Mightyena's bed, soft moaning and whimpering sounds coming from underneath. Grabbing hold of the sheets, she yanked them off, revealing Luna performing-

"AURA!" the hyena yelped angrily upon lifting her mouth from Sparky's crotch. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

Aura's eyes were locked on Sparky's crotch, though, so she hadn't even acknowledged Luna's outburst. " _OMA, he's bigger than Shade!"_ she shouted in her head, a blush starting to appear on her face.

She got a hold of herself and cleared the thoughts from her head when Luna shielded her _toy_. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Bringing this fucking loser into the winner's cabin!?" she scolded. "And you're slutting it up; sucking him off while he's sleeping?!

"He's my hubby and I'll do with him what I please!" Luna snapped. "I wish I could say the same for you, but that'll probably never happen…"

"Fuck you, you ugly bitch!"

"I'd rather be an ugly bitch than a man-stealing slut who got pregnant," Luna retorted as she reached down on the ground to get the sheet, only for Aura to pull it back. She glowered at the shiny Glaceon. "Give me… the sheet."

"No. Your sex game's over. Get your stupid husband out of here; if no one else can get lucky in here, than you can't at all."

Luna snarled at the ice fox, but both of them heard a yawn and turned to the bed across from her. Aspen had finally woke up, giggling somewhat.

Upon removing her mask, the Furfrou noticed the situation across from her and grew wide-eyed.

"What on this planet did I just wake up to?!" she blustered.

"Great, now _she's_ up," Luna grumbled as she finally felt Sparky _go down_. Still wanting to cover him from Aura, and now Aspen, she sat up and sat on his crotch.

"Didn't you just hear me say that you're not getting lucky in here?!" Aura hollered.

Approximately ten seconds later, Marie, Summer, and Sabrina, who were in the room next to them, entered their room due to the noise.

"What the hell is with all of the yelling in here so early in the morning!?" Sabrina squawked, looking and sounding weary.

"This bitch brought her man in so she could get some while we were still in here," Aura explained, passing a glare to Luna, who rolled her eyes.

The three girls from the other room, instead of looking at Luna, gave Aura annoyed looks.

"Bitch, you know that if you had a man that you'd be boning him, too," Summer remarked.

"Wait, you don't care?!" Aspen exclaimed. "She's essentially fraternizing with the enemy! Marriage or not!"

"In my defense, Sparky got in here about thirty minutes ago because Egridos and Taylor ticked him off," Luna explained nonchalantly. "I knocked him out and decided to bring him in here so that he wouldn't do it again when he woke up. And, since I couldn't go back to sleep, I decided to have my way with him for a bit."

"Uh huh, sure…" Aura remarked, not believing her at all. "You devise that entire story with your mouth full of his meat?"

"Okay Aura, just fucking leave," Marie finally spoke. "What she does is her own fucking business and we are _not_ in a challenge, so getting upset is fucking dumb."

"She's just jealous that I have a man," Luna commented.

"Whatever dick-breath…"

Summer rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go take a walk, all of this talk and...seeing _that_ is making me crave fresh air…"

The Typhlosion turned to leave as the other girls continued to argue about the situation.

 **000**

 **Summer: I'm a big girl with needs, okay? If I was in Luna's position, I would have just kept going just to spite that cockblocking bitch…**

 **000**

After leaving the showers, Kojo decided to start walking around the island out of boredom. He was still irked at the fact that he and the others who were innocent ended up in the crossfire caused by Egridos, Taylor, and Sparky. As he headed to the beach, he noticed Summer walking out of the Winner's Cabin.

Raising a brow in curiosity, he decided to approach her, but noticed that she was heading toward him, as he was coming back from the forest. So, they ended up meeting up with each other halfway.

"Hey, Summer," the Mienshao greeted.

"Oh, hey Kojo," she replied, a small smile appearing on her face. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just… going for a walk to try and clear my head of the bullshit that happened earlier," he replied.

Knowing that it was probably what Luna was talking about regarding Sparky, she decided to act like she didn't know so she could get _his_ perspective of what happened.

"Hey, same here, only it's not really bullshit, but moreso the conversation being had," she replied.

"Oh, well in that case…" Kojo started, rubbing his arm sheepishly. "Wanna walk together? I mean, if you don't want to, it's fine and all, you probably have your own-"

Summer groaned, interrupting him. "Didn't we talk about your lack of a backbone last night? Don't let that bitch make you second guess so much. And yes, we can walk together."

Kojo chuckled to himself. "Alright," he replied. "Where we you headed?"

"Where were _you_ headed?" Summer retorted. "You can be the guide; I was just heading to the lake, or pond, whichever it is."

"I was just gonna walk around the entire island via the beach…" Kojo replied as he gazed at the grainy terrain through a few trees.

"Fine by me," Summer replied, looking in the same direction. "Lead the way."

"Hey, I don't have to lead," Kojo responded as he started walking. "We can just go together…"

Summer giggled as she caught up to him and got on his right side. "Either way, we're still _just_ walking around."

Kojo sheepishly laughed before hiding a slightly disappointed expression. "Yeah…"

 **000**

 **Kojo: See, this is another thing that annoys me. Summer** _ **just**_ **started talking to me yesterday, and I already like her more than I like Zella or any other girl I've spoken to. I guess I never realized how attractive and nice she was, given that we never really spoke or hung out until now.**

 **I'm really pissed at myself for this...**

 **000**

As they walked along the sandy terrain, the grains tickling and embedding themselves in the numerous creases in their feet, Summer explained the circumstances that led her to exit the Winner's Cabin.

"Wait, wait, so after taking him away and making us have to shower," Kojo started, upon hearing the explanation. "She drags him into her room to try and get a _shower_ from him while he's still knocked out?"

"Yep," Summer replied with a sigh.

Kojo huffed. "If only I had a girl that was that caring and frisky. Maybe I wouldn't feel like shit."

"Like I told you last night, you don't deserve to go through that," Summer commented, rubbing his back again. "If I was your girl, it'd be much more than just a blowjob~"

Upon hearing that, Kojo froze, as did Summer as she realized that she said it out loud rather than in her head. She looked down at the ermine beside her and saw a blush on his face. A blush was on her face as well. She had no idea why she suddenly said that, but it was in the open now. Silence filled the air, with the only sound being the waves crashing on the shore and the leaves rustling in the breeze.

Summer cleared her throat as they continued walking. "Just f-forget that I said that, okay?" she said sternly.

Kojo hadn't replied, as the thought of her doing 'more than just a blowjob' filled his head. He'd have just forgotten all about Zella and asked the badger out then and there, but he didn't want to sound like he was only gonna be with her because she offered that. He wasn't that kind of guy. However, he wasn't gonna let it go. Friends bugged each other with misspoken phrases and words, right?

With a short chuckle, the Mienshao's look of surprised turned into a playful smirk. "And uh… what would the 'more' entail?"

Summer's face flushed at the mention of it. "Kojo, don't do this. I thought out loud, alright? Just drop it."

"Wait, so… you _really_ thought about that?" Kojo inquired, genuinely curious now. "We haven't been talking _that_ long. How did that happen?"

Summer gave him a look. "I don't know. I guess hearing you talk about how your bitch of a girlfriend cheats on you all of the time made me feel sympathetic or something. I mean, you're really handsome, so I don't see why any girl would _want_ to cheat."

Kojo blushed slightly. "Uh… Thanks."

"It's the truth," Summer prodded. "And I know that I've dated _Ray_ and I dated Yashima for a while before the bastard decided that I was no longer good enough, but I still kinda found you attractive, even though we never talked."

Kojo was surprised to hear that. All of this was just coming out of the wash and they just started acknowledging each others' existence last night! At this point, he didn't care.

"Look", he started, getting her attention as they both stopped walking. "I know that we never talked prior to yesterday, but we've gotten along decently so far, and you confessing all of this is making me feel… I don't know… a bit more level-headed. So... do you want to go out with me?"

Summer's face turned as red as a Tamato Berry. She had no idea what to say; she was mostly trying to help him boost his self-confidence and not care about his cheating girlfriend. "W-Well, uh… You see..."

Kojo sighed. " _I knew I was doing it too soon,_ " he whispered to himself while looking down at the sand. "It's okay, Summer. You don't have to reply…"

Summer let out a breath of relief. "Look Kojo, I like you, but I think we're gonna need a _lot_ more time before we ever decide to start a relationship."

Kojo nodded. "That's understandable…"

"But…" Summer started, her blush still on her face. "I can give you something to look forward to in the meantime~."

She bend down a bit and locked lips with the Mienshao, surprising him momentarily before he decided to kiss back. After about ten seconds, they both broke the kiss, looking completely satisfied.

"Well, that's definitely something I'm excited for," Kojo chuckled, feeling a calmness wash over him.

"I can say the same for myself now," Summer expressed with a sultry look. "So, do you wanna keep walking or-"

"Yeah, it'll give us more time to talk," Kojo nodded with a small smirk.

 **000**

 **Summer: Me and Ray didn't really get together conventionally and look at what happened there. So, I actually want to take things a bit slow before we get into anything. Pacing is everything…**

 **That being said, kissing him was amazing.**

 **000**

Striker, Frosty, and Farra were back at the bonfire pit, unsure about how to really feel about Skore's elimination. They each sat on a rock, thinking about the circumstances that led to his elimination.

"That elimination last night was total bull!" Frosty remarked aggressively. "Sure, Skore won the first season, but that doesn't mean you have to eliminate him early!"

"Just like in season three," Farra recalled. "He got eliminated early because he won first season, but those idiots seemed to forget the fact that Skore is the only person who's won the game, but didn't get to keep the money!"

"Exactly!" Striker exclaimed in agreement. "They always forget that because they want anybody who's already won or gotten close to winning to never have that chance again! They only care about themselves."

Farra and Frosty both nodded in agreement.

"I'll be honest," Frosty began with a sigh. "I don't like our team that much. It just seems like too much drama, aggressiveness, kindness, and weakness. And that includes us! No offense to anyone."

"No, I actually agree with that," Farra said. "And offense _needs_ to be taken. Seriously, what all does our team really have to offer? Who here has actual physical strength that can help us? Who's not too much of a goody-goody or jackass?"

"Well, Farra, _we_ are kind of goody-goody ourselves," Striker said sheepishly.

"That's not the point!" Farra retaliated. "All of the females on our team have issues and all of the guys, with the exception of you guys are jackasses, boring, or just nice!"

"The girls have issues?" Frosty inquired. "I mean I know-"

"Ashton and Holly are so annoyingly sweet someone could get diabetes, Amethyst is a pushover shy-baby, Vixen, Shine, and Sola are part of the wacko clan, Macey is _obsessed_ with gay fanfiction and art, Morgan is a smartass, and Reta and Sally are _sooo_ boring and annoying!" Farra listed. "Being in the loser cabin with them was the worst experience ever! The beds were uncomfortable and so was I!"

"Yeah, and what happened this morning was uncalled for!" Striker exclaimed.

"You'd let someone else talk about a loved one of yours like that?" Frosty queried.

"No, but I'd at least make sure that the attack I was using _only_ hit the ones that were talking shit!" the Metapod blustered heatedly.

"Remember, he's part of the wacko clan, too. The males lack common sense and self-control when they're mad and the females just act as the suppressors. Literally the only thing they're good at other than being pieces of ass for them to screw," Farra remarked.

"Jeez Farra, why the sudden harshness?" Frosty questioned. "What'd they do to you?"

"Nothing, it just annoys the hell out of me now that they have so much drama and bullshit that they bring into the game that ends up affecting everyone or someone else emotionally," she explained. "Go to fucking counseling! Don't bring your bullshit into this game!"

"Well, there's nothing that we can really do about any of that," Striker stated. "We're gonna have to just deal with it. We can't do anything with just three votes."

"Actually, if we're able to convince the others or find common ground with them, we'll be just as powerful," Farra claimed. "Or we'll at least have a part of the majority."

"But the question becomes: who do we go for?" Frosty replied. "Do we wait until the challenge or plan ahead like other people did first season?"

"Well, considering that we're not villains, we're gonna have to wait until the challenge is done and see who does horrible…" Striker explained.

"Uh uh uh, remember guys, your status as a person matters more," Farra guyed. "Watch, if we lose the next challenge, they'll vote for someone who did something they didn't like. It won't have anything to do with challenge performance."

Striker and Frosty exchanged wary glances.

 **000**

After his self-proclaimed unwarranted knockout, Taylor slithered his way to the island's lake for a little alone time. He needed to come up with a plan to get rid of a fair amount of the others without sabotaging the votes.

"Damn these two fuckhead hosts…" Taylor seethed, smacking the water with his tail with a _SPLASH!_ "That was a much needed and very warranted strategy, but these fucks couldn't just let things go my way could they?"

With a huff, he started thinking about what options he had to make the game go his way. The only thing he had going for himself was that only two of the veteran players knew of his actions, and only one of them was on his team.

He still didn't forget the fact that Ace threatened to remind Autumn's family about him and how he nearly killed her. The Milotic growled, as this was definitely going to be his Achilles' Heel. The fact that he angered Sparky earlier didn't help his case. "I think I'm going to have to take out the four of the related fucks, that way the fluffer has no leverage on me," he muttered to himself. "Right now I'll just have to play nice… starting next challenge."

Suddenly, he heard rustling near some nearby bushes, causing him to glower in the direction. Not appreciating the extra company, he blasted a Hydro Pump into the bushes. Hearing a yell of pain, he smiled to himself and started swimming to the opposite side of the lake.

Looking back, he saw that Connor was the one who was there. He immediately paused and started turning back around. _"Connor...hmm he could be a worthy associate. Unsuspecting, quiet…"_

Swimming back over, he noticed that the Bouffalant was leaving.

"Wait! Connor!" the Milotic called, causing the Bouffalant to stop in his tracks. The shamefaced Bash Buffalo Pokemon turned around nervously, being met with a rather friendly, yet shady, smile. "Hello…" he greeted.

"H-Hi?" he replied

"I was wondering if you'd ever consider being partners with me," Taylor offered with a tint of maliciousness in his voice.

"Uh… What kind of partners?" Connor inquired, a bit fearfully.

Taylor groaned at his wariness and inanity. "An alliance. That's all I want. You saw how close you were to elimination last night. Ally with me, and I'll ensure that you make it to the finals."

Connor was very hesitant. He didn't really know Taylor's tactics, so he was unsure if could trust him or not. He didn't want to resort to harming anyone, if that was what Taylor was going to go for. However, he wanted to make it to the finals, so, against his better judgment-

Connor took a breath. "O-Okay, I suppose."

"Great!" Taylor said. "You're very lucky that I chose you. You won't regret it…"

Connor smiled sheepishly, causing Taylor to sigh and roll his eyes. " _For now, anyway…"_

 **000**

 **Taylor: Simple. All I have to do is have him do all of the dirty work, and if he ever steps out of line, I turn the tables on him. Easy...**

 **000**

"Could you please show a bit more sympathy for me?!" Egridos blustered as he and the rest of the Ghoul gang met up outside of LeGrae. The coffin had just told them about what transpired in his cabin earlier that day, and, needless to say, they didn't give him the reaction he was expecting.

"Hey dude, you're the one who insulted his wife and his faithfulness," Dhaunt replied. "I wouldn't have expected any less."

"Thanks," the coffin replied tonelessly. "Nice to know that my friends don't feel sorry about my suffering."

"Honey, you caused that to happen to yourself," Lassie retorted. "And there was no real suffering involved and you know it. You just got knocked out."

"It still hurt!" he countered. "And with him going off like that, I think it's a good enough time to get rid of him before he goes crazy like his demon brothers."

"That does sound like the best thing to do, but we're not on your team," Marion reminded. "There's nothing we can do to help you."

"Right…" Egridos groaned, looking down. "I don't think it'd do any good anyway with his stupid family on the same team."

"Now, I'm not one to pick off others or give advice to tear down innocent players, but if you could convince the other guys in your cabin to vote for him the next time you guys lose, you could be successful in taking him out," Dhaunt explained.

"That's perfect!" Egridos beamed. "Especially since sabotaging the votes is off of the table."

"Yeah, I wonder why did that all of a sudden," Marion said quizzically. "They let it happen in pretty much every other season. Why stop it now?"

"You heard them. They want to see us 'break' or something," Lassie explained. "Swapping the votes when they actually want to see how we in specific truly strategize and interact may not be good for their _precious_ ratings…"

"Fuck their ratings! I wanna win!" Egridos exclaimed. "I don't care if we already have enough money, I want the bragging rights."

"Well, we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens," said Dhaunt. "All-Stars was crazy enough in itself, I'm hoping this season doesn't turn out the same way…"

"You never know," Lassie replied with a shrug. "Everyone has dirty laundry and personal thoughts about each other, and knowing this game, it's all gonna come out soon…"

Dhaunt sighed as Marion pat his back. "Crap…"

 **000**

Titan and Cramad were on a bit of a 'date', as they were sitting on the edge of the cliff. The two had really grown closer since their time away from the competition. Cramad was no longer the sheltered girl with poor social skills; thanks to Titan, she was much more open, bold, and confident, evident by her actions in the last challenge.

She still couldn't stop bringing it up to Titan. She hadn't displayed any of the aforementioned skills in their everyday life, as she viewed Titan as the true man of the relationship and didn't have any reason to argue with what he said. Unless he ended up being wrong.

The two were eating berries and just enjoying each others' company. They were not typically as lovey-dovey as other couples were; they moreso enjoyed intimacy through communication and company rather than sex. Truth be told they had only had sex three times throughout their _entire_ relationship. Both just didn't feel that it meant anything, as _anyone_ that is physically able to can have sex.

"So," Titan started as he took a bite out a Leppa Berry. "What do you think will happen this time around, cook?"

"I don't really know what to expect, to be honest," Cramad replied. "It's a pretty weird number of people to bring back, and some people weren't even brought back for the right reason. Plus, we don't know how much the others have changed since we last interacted with them."

"Bloody oath," Titan replied with a nod. "And with Dick-tini serving as the main host this time, I'm not sure that we'll be safe in the slightest."

"Considering that the first challenge was us being zapped out of a circle and the second challenge was us being chained up in _prison_ , I think that was pretty obvious, hun," Cramad retorted with narrowed eyes. "And with the no sabotaging rule in play, I feel like they're going to make things so awful that we'd want to vote for certain people or a lot of lying and manipulating is going to occur."

"You mean like in every other season?"

"Yes, but on a grander scale," Cramad expressed.

"ALL CAMPERS, REPORT TO THE BEACH THAT YOU WASHED UP ON IMMEDIATELY FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE!" they heard before Cramad could continue.

The Parasect scoffed. "Great…"

 **000**

All of the contestants made their way to the section of the beach closest to the dock, where they all swam after being tossed from the tiltrotor on the first episode. There was a very long tarp, concealing something that most of the competitors could already identify just because of the length of the tarp alone.

"Oh great, another obstacle course," Anthony groaned. "You'd think that after all of these stupid seasons they'd stop with the repetitive bullshit."

"Anthony, no one asked for your opinion," they all heard as Victini and Mew floated into the scene. The comment obviously came from Victini.

"And no one asked to be brought back to this shit show," Vixen snarled.

"Your anger means nothing to me," Victini retorted nonchalantly, wanting to move on. "Now, today's challenge-"

"Is an obstacle course," Sally interrupted. "We already have that figured out."

Victini gave the sheared sheep a look of vexation. "If I can _not_ be interrupted every minute or so, I'd like to finish introducing the challenge."

Everyone remained silent, holding agitated and careless expressions.

"Now, you whiners are correct about this being another obstacle course, as this challenge is an homage to the obstacle course challenge that we had in season one…" Victini trailed off as Mew removed the tarp. Upon seeing the course, nearly every contestants' jaw dropped and their eyes widened. "But with a _shocking_ twist."

The course had numerous electrical elements added to it. The first section consisted of a upward ramp that led to a platform that had a box filled with numerous frayed electrical wires. Following that, there was a gate of electricity that occasionally disappeared before reappearing again. There was a large pool that was seen after, which, of course, was electrified, but also filled with Eelektrik and Eelektross.

A jumper cable was seen at the other end of the pool, which would be their escape route from the pool. After they were out of the pool, they would have to make it across a 'dance floor' which had different colors flashing. There was then a rock climbing wall. Leading from the top were five floating platforms. After the final one, it was a near twenty foot drop into another electrified, foam-filled pool, with a buzzer at the end.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say this now, I am _not_ doing this," Taylor objected with a glare.

"You will do what we tell you to do!" Morgan countered. "I don't want to lose another challenge!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on," Victini interrupted before the dispute could persist. "Let Mew explain how this is going to go."

Mew gave him a look of agitation before floating forward with his arms folded. Mew drawled, "Each team will choose five people from their own team to participate, and five from the other team to participate. That way, each team has ten players that can suffer the shock and aww of this course. A timer will start when the first player on your team begins and it will end when they hit the buzzer at the very end of the course. Once one player is done, you must wait until the player from the opposite team is done as well. Then the next two players will go together, so on and so forth. The team that has the best overall time at the end avoids elimination, and the losing team eliminate one of the ten players that participated."

"You sound so dead inside," Carson acknowledged.

"What part of 'I didn't want this season' did you not get?" Mew replied, giving the bell a discourteous look.

"How the hell are we going to do this with one course?" Farra questioned.

"Another course is going to be set up right next to the original on, Ms. Stalker," Victini rejoined. "Now, choose the five participants from your own team and plan the ones you want from the opposing team."

 **000**

"Alright, we need to go about this in a strategic way," Marie started. "I say that we choose their strongest players to go, and we choose our decent players."

"What type of idiotic logic is that?!" Aspen blustered. "If we choose their _strongest_ players, won't they... I don't know? _Win_?!"

"There's always a chance that they'll fuck up," Marie retorted. "Then, they _have_ to eliminate a good player, which will be good for _all_ of us in the long run."

"Uh huh… and who do we choose for our own team?" Klavier asked. "How are we going to determine it without pissing anyone off?"

"Using logic," Anthony answered blatantly. "The entire course is electricity-based, so choosing any water-types or flying-types to participate would be idiotic on our part. And because ground-types are immune to electricity, and electric-types, dragon-types, and grass-types resist it, we need to choose wisely based off of that."

"Hmm…" Luna started as she looked among everyone on their team. "So, Annie, Titan, Cramad, and Klavier?"

Summer looked around to ensure that the Mightyena's thinking was correct. "Y...es," she finally stated. "It looks like the four of you will be going."

"Oh come on!" Klavier exclaimed. "There's water in the course! That'll end up waking electricity work on me!"

"Yes, water conducts electricity, but you're still immune to it overall," Marie replied.

"You're not getting out of it, scorpion boy," Aura jeered.

"And Aura can be the fifth spot," Freezeo chimed in. "Just for fodder…"

"WHAT!?" the Glaceon blustered.

"I second that," Luna stated with a nodded.

"Yep," Phill agreed.

As the started to semi-agree, Aspen was beginning to grow tired of their idiocy and grudges.

"For fuck sake what is wrong with you idiots!?" Aspen exclaimed. "Aura is an actual asset to the team, but you're still just judging her and acting like what she did years ago impacts the present when it fucking _doesn't_. What happened to the 'pull any bullshit or start anything negative and you're gone' deal?"

"Exactly!" Aura exclaimed. "You all seem to have forgotten already!"

"Ha! And when was that bullshit established?" Anthony questioned.

Summer groaned, realizing that the guys knew nothing about the girls' agreement with Aura.. "Two days ago in our side of the loser cabin."

"Say what now?" Fez inquired, confused.

"We agreed to give this bitch a 'clean slate' and not target her for the bullshit she did in the past," Sabrina explained.

"Exactly," Aura added.

"Uh, wouldn't the bullshit she did this morning count?" Luna questioned, glowering at the Glaceon.

"It would, but it isn't affecting anything on a large scale," Marie explained.

Luna growled to herself, making Aura sneer at her in a taunting fashion.

"So who are we choosing for their team?" Dhaunt queried. "You said their _strongest_ players, but who does that really entail? No offense, not many of them seem to be 'strong' players."

"Well, Morgan and Sparky are definitely going," Cramad stated. "Morgan made it to the final four in season three and Sparky is related to crazy, so…"

"Hey!" Luna barked, glowering at the Parasect.

"Uh, Sparky is an electric-type," Cano chimed in. "Just saying that we're trying to make them _lose_ , choosing him wouldn't be the correct thing to do. Especially if they plan on choosing him to go anyway."

"And how do you know that they're gonna choose him?" asked Aspen. "You're probably just trying to save your br-"

"Don't… start with me," Cano growled, getting face to face with the Furfrou. Aspen glared daggers at the Arcanine as he pulled away and plopped his butt on the sand.

"I think Cano has a point," Summer spoke up. "They may be choosing their strongest players so that they have a fighting chance to win. We'll have to think of something else…"

 **000**

"I am _not_ going and that's final!" Taylor exclaimed angrily. The others around him continuously pestered him to go despite his weakness to electricity. They wanted him to be fodder, he just knew it; he wasn't having it.

"Well, about three minutes have gone by and we still have zero participants for either team," Reta commented. "Good job, everyone."

"Hey, you haven't offered any input yourself," Shine countered. "Maybe try to do that before you try to chastise the team."

"Okay, I will," Reta replied, glaring back. "Sparky and Sally are electric-types, so they're gonna be perfect for the challenge. Ashton is able to resist electricity since she's a grass-type, Morgan's strong enough to handle this course given her background with Dew and Jesse, and _Shine_ should be able to handle all of this due to the fact that she's married to a psychopath."

Shine tightened her glare at the Furret. Bringing Shade up in order to judge her was one of the things that pissed her off. Yes, she was strong and had good endurance, but not just because she was married to Shade.

"Alright, thanks Reta for the five choices. Do we have any objections _not_ from the ones chosen?" Kojo questioned.

Nobody spoke up, as Reta's logic wasn't that flawed. Due to this, they decided to move on to the opposite team.

"So, who do we want gone from the opposite team?" Ace inquired rhetorically. "Oh, I know, how about Aura?!"

"Perfect," Shine replied with a smirk.

"Shouldn't we try going for actual threats?" Striker inquired. "Aura doesn't really have anything going for her other than being hated. She's not threatening."

"Yeah, Striker's right," Farra spoke up. "I say we go for their heavy hitters. Cano, Marie, Anthony, Sabrina, and Summer-"

Upon hearing Summer's name, Kojo paled. "Uh…" he started. "I agree with all of them except for Summer."

"What?!" Egridos exclaimed. "You've gotta be kidding. Have you _seen_ her? She could rip you in half if you made her mad enough!"

"Plus, she's smart," Sally added.

"Uh… I actually agree with the poor actor," Taylor chimed in, causing Kojo to feel a calmness wash over himself again, but also a tinge of anger from the Milotic's insult. "You veterans hardly know anything about who we are and what we've seen occur in our season. And I think that Chlotz, Ace, and I, regardless of how we feel toward each other, can agree that Brian needs to be put on the chopping block."

"Oh-ho-ho, definitely," Chlotz chortled in agreement.

Ace groaned. He didn't want to agree with Taylor, but looking back, he knew that he was correct. Brian was extremely intellectual, and with his ability to construct whatever weapon of his choice, he was a force to be reckoned with.

"Well Ace? Are they right?" Sola queried.

Taking a breath, the Sylveon nodded.

"Uh, okay… I guess we'll take your word for it," Vixen concluded.

"No!" Macey exclaimed.

"Quiet, gay fetish!" Taylor exclaimed. "Your little boyfriend won't be able to make anymore gay rays for you!"

Macey giggled with a suggestive wink, causing him to shudder.

"Uh… what was that about a gay ray?" Holly asked in confusion. "I mean, we know of a gay Ray, but-"

"No, she made Brian build her a ray gun that'll make any guy that's hit act all fruity towards other guys," Chlotz explained, rolling his eyes. "That's why we have to hope that we don't lose because I do _not_ want anything like that to happen to me. We were all lucky that we weren't on the same team as her! Now that we are… oh Arceus, why?!"

"Okay, so we need to make sure that Brian is on the chopping block every time we have this opportunity," Frosty remarked.

"Yep," Kojo nodded, taking a few steps away from Macey, who was staring at him intimately.

 **000**

"Alright. You've had enough time to select who you want," Victini announced. "Now, let's hear your choices. Horrible Ho-Ohs, you guys can go first."

Marie decided to be the spokesmon for the Ho-Ohs. "Well, for our own team, we've chosen Titan, Cramad, Klavier, Annie, and uh… Rapid."

"Wha-?" Rapid asked, completely confused, as were a few of the others on the team.

They completely forgot about the final spot for their own team, so Marie just said a random person's name from their team. Rapid was expendable, right?

"Odd choices considering your goal is to _win_ the challenge, but alright," Victini remarked, causing the team to glare at them.

"Hey, better to lose and have to eliminate a liability than someone that's actually useful to the team," Aspen shrugged. This comment caused the five that were chosen to glare at the Furfrou angrily.

"Okay, now who have chosen to participate from the other team?" Victini questioned.

"Well, given that they likely chose their best players to ensure that they win, we've chosen players that we feel are going to be annoying as all hell to us later on or just people that we want gone, so, Macey, Taylor, Egridos, Vixen, and… sorry, Ace."

Ace gaped before looking to Aura, who had a satisfied sneer on her face. The Sylveon flared, his ribbons waving furiously.

"Alright, Loser Lugias, who've you got?" Victini inquired, turning to the other team.

"We got Sally, Sparky, Ashton, Morgan, and Shine," Reta listed, glaring at Marie because of Rapid's involvement with the challenge.

"Okay, and from the other team?"

"Cano, Marie, Brian, Anthony, and Sabrina," Reta continued, holding a smirk as the five that were called gaped in surprise.

"Well, isn't that something?" Victini commented. "One team thinks small and the other thinks big. And, before I forget, for winning the previous challenge, the Horrible Ho-Ohs will have five minutes shaved off of their final time."

"WHAT?!" majority of the Lugias bellowed in disbelief.

"Since when do the winning teams get advantages in successor challenges!?" Morgan questioned, irritated at the, to her, invidiousness.

"It's a new reward we're implementing," Victini replied. "It won't be in every single challenge, but if I'm feeling generous and the challenge has details and sections in which it is plausible, it will be given."

"Geez, this season is just _full_ of bullshit changes, huh?" Taylor gibed. "First, no swapping the votes, and now winners get advantages in challenges that happen later? What is your fucking deal?!"

"It's called change," Victini replied. "You know, the thing that _pussies_ bitch about? I wanted to stir up some more drama and force you guys to show me and the audience how you truly play and how well you deal with certain things. No cheesy, overdone methods of elimination."

Taylor glowered at the fennec.

"Now, let's get this challenge started, shall we?" the Victory Pokemon hosted happily.

 **000**

Another, identical, course materialized next to the original one thanks to Mew's psychic abilities. Each team had their participants lined up in front of a course. First up for the Ho-Ohs was Anthony, while Taylor was first for the Lugias. Both males just wanted to get this over with, as neither of them wanted to participate in this challenge at all.

"Alright let's get this challenge started!" Victini began. "Time starts...now!

 **-000-**

Both Anthony and Taylor rushed up the starting ramp, with Taylor having the advantage due to his body length and swiftness. Anthony, being larger, had the obvious disadvantage of being slower.

Taylor made it up and through his box of the wires, feeling every jolt and shock that coursed through his slippery body. He winced a bit at the pain, but continued onwards. He wasn't going to be the cause of his team's loss.

Anthony, upon reaching the upper platform and approaching the box, cursed to himself. He started running through the box, getting shocked unrelentlessly, as some of the wires ended up snaking around parts of his legs and arms. The wires had been quivering due to the live feed going through them, giving him more shocks. He growled in annoyance as he tried to exit and tripped on the wires snaking wildly on the ground.

Taylor peered back to see how far ahead he was and sneered upon seeing Anthony trip as he came out of the box. Due to his lack of focus, he slithered right into the electrical gate, shocking himself in the process.

"FUCK!" he screamed in pain as he pulled himself back, only for the electricity to vanish momentarily. Panting from the electricity still coursing through him, he growled before looking back and seeing Anthony approaching his own gate.

With a glower, he fired an Ice Beam on the Blastoise's course, causing him to slip as he continued running. Smirking, Taylor turned his attention back to the gate, which was once again producing electricity. Seconds later, it vanished, allowing him to continue forward.

The Milotic paused as he reached the electrified pool. He knew for a fact that prolonged exposure to electricity, especially in water, would knock him out cold.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" he cursed anxiously as he turned back and saw Anthony get back onto his feet and run through the electric gate without hesitation. His timing was on point, as the electricity has stopped just as he reached it.

Taylor growled before getting an idea. Using Ice Beam once again, he froze the surface of the pool, allowing him to slide across with minimal difficulty. Once he made it to the other side, he was able to get back onto the platform, ignoring the now half-frozen jumper cable. He slithered straight across the 'dance floor' receiving a huge shock which made him yell out in pain once again.

Anthony was growling, as he was unsure about how we was going to get across the pool without majorly electrocuting himself. He saw that Taylor had frozen his side and sighed upon seeing this. He didn't want to use the 'he-she's' way of doing it, but it seemed to be his best option.

Firing at the pool, the water began to gloss over and stiffen as the Eelektrik and Eelektross inside began to breach the surface, only to be frozen as well. Once he was done, he lowered a foot down to test the sturdiness, but to the annoyance of his teammates.

"YOU'RE WASTING TIME! JUST GO!" Summer bellowed in anger.

"Keep your panties on, I know! I'm sorry that I'm a big boy!" Anthony retorted sarcastically as he got onto the ice and accidentally slipped upon taking another step.

Summer facepalmed as others on the sidelines either laughed or groaned in aggravation.

Taylor has slithered his way to the top of the wall, suffering more shocks on the way up due to the pegs dishing them out. The sea serpent took a breath upon seeing the floating, separated platforms. He saw how far behind Anthony was and, with a smile, slithered across the platforms before dropping into the electrified, foam-filled pool below.

Upon landing, he felt an extremely large surge of electricity, and he swiftly used on of his tendrils to hit the end buzzer.

"And the Lugias start it off with 4 minutes 13 seconds!" Victini announced. "Now, let's wait for the Ho-Ohs to catch up…"

Anthony growled as he finally climbed up and out of the pool after slipping numerous times. "Fuck me…" he groaned.

Continuing across the course, he approached the 'dance floor' and sighed. He rushed across the the floor, suffering more harsh shocks. He ran into the rock climbing wall and rubbing his head after hitting it against one of the climbing pegs.

"Well, this is going to suck," he groaned.

He began his ascent, getting shocked every so often. After a while, he finally made it to the top. Looking across, he saw the floating platforms and groaned once again.

 **000**

 **Anthony: Look, I'm a big fucking dude now that I'm fully evolved. Physical activity has never been my strongest suit anyway, so this was going to be sucktastic for me from the start.**

 **000**

Anthony carefully made it across to the final platform before finally falling face first into the electrified pool below. Reemerging from the water, electricity still coursing through him, he quickly pressed the buzzer to end it.

"Wow, 7 minutes and 15 seconds. You guys are lucky that you have the five minute subtraction at the end. With a start like that, you're gonna need it," Victini laughed.

Anthony dragged himself from the water, covered in foam, before rolling onto his back while panting.

 **000**

Taylor and Anthony were both trying to catch their breath as Mew floated them to the sidelines with the rest of their teammates who weren't participating.

"Alright," Victini started. "Following those pathetic performances, let's have the next round start! Egridos vs Marie!"

The Feraligatr groaned as she moved toward the start, while the Cofagrigus had a grin plastered on his face. There were rules set against floating or phasing through things, so he was in the clear.

"Alright, and… Begin!"

 **-000-**

Marie immediately started running up the ramp, while Egridos effortlessly floated up.

"Hey!" Sabrina called. "Why is he floating!? That's unfair!"

"Did I say that you couldn't?" Victini countered. "I didn't, right? So I guess it's safe to say that floating and flying are allowed."

"WHAT?!" Marie blustered as she stopped just before she went through the wire box. "You didn't tell us that earlier!"

"Why would he?" Mew queried. "You guys should know how Victini acts by now. If he doesn't mention it, you can do it."

"WHICH IS WHY I'M ALREADY NEAR THE END, SUCKER!" Egridos laughed, as he was not visible by any of the other participants.

Marie gaped at the lead the coffin had before clenching her fists. She rushed through the wire box, suffering many shocks, but taking each one like a champ. Her scales burned a bit, but she was still okay to continue.

"AND EGRIDOS ENDS THE HO-OHS' TIME AT 5 MINUTES AND 47 SECONDS!" Victini announced. "Now to wait for the _slow_ Lugias _again!_ "

Upon hearing that, Marie snarled. This was total bullshit. She was already weak to electricity, so this was already going to take her a while. Added to the fact that she was pit against _Egridos_ and already lost because of non-existent hindrances for floaters, she was beyond annoyed with the game already.

She ran through the electrical gate, avoiding the electricity surging through it, and made her way to the pool, which was luckily still frozen. There were cracks on the surface and it looked like the eels inside were beginning to thaw out. Because of this, as well as because _she_ knew it, too, she used Ice Beam to ensure that the water stayed frozen for her next teammate.

She took a step onto the, now more secure, iced over pool and skated across to the other side, causing Anthony to growl as he watched from the side.

Marie got back onto the platforms, and attempted a long jump over the dance floor in order to avoid the shock she'd get from it. She rushed to the rock climbing wall and began her ascent. She was able to take every shock dished out by the pegs, eventually making it to the top.

She jumped onto the the first platform which moved downward a bit due to her weight. Looking down, she saw another pool filled with a pure black fluid, something that Victini failed to mention and that both Taylor and Anthony seemed to ignore.

She continued going across the platforms, and once she was on the final platform, she leapt down with a splash before quickly pulling herself out, hitting the buzzer with her knee.

"And the Ho-Ohs' time goes up to 13 minutes and 32 seconds," Victini said, clicking his tongue. "Pretty sad…"

"Go fuck yourself," Marie panted, giving the host the finger.

 **000**

Marie and Egridos moved back to the sidelines.

"Alright, next pairing… Cano vs. Vixen," Victini said with a smirk, as the couple exchanged competitive grins.

Both fire-type canines approached the starting ramps for their teams, exchanging glances from the corners of their eyes.

"Okay, in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Both of them rushed up the ramp and made their way across the course. Cano, being faster, sprinted through the box on his side immediately, while Vixen ran through at her normal pace, letting out yips as she was burned and shocked. Due to her numerous tails, she was shocked much easier and more fluently before she was finally able to get out.

Cano ran through the electric gate with no issue before moving on the pool. Because it was still frozen, he had a tad bit of difficulty making it across due to slipping numerous times.

Once out of the box, Vixen proceeded along the course. Upon making it to the gate, she paused once the electricity surged before rushing forward as soon as it stopped.

Cano made it back onto the platforms and ran across the dance floor, feeling the sharp pain from the electricity, but not flinching or wincing. When he reached the rock climbing wall, he paused, as he didn't feel that he was good at climbing all that well.

Vixen had to be very light on her feet as she slowly made her way across the weakened ice-covered pool. The ice was beginning to thaw more due to the heat from the electrified water. As she made it across and pulled herself back up onto platform, she panted as she watched Cano slowly start climbing up the wall.

She smirked to herself, as over time Cano's climbing skills had been diminishing due to fatigue and lack of upper body exercise. She leaped over the dance floor and rushed to the rock climbing wall, where Cano was struggling as he held onto one peg with both of his paws.

"Having some trouble there, big daddy~?" Vixen teased as she started her ascent.

"Ha ha, very funny," Cano retorted sarcastically as he moved his hind legs onto pegs in order to steady himself.

Vixen began yipping as she grabbed certain electrified pegs, causing her to retract her paw and shake it off. Growling softly, she continued up, being careful with which pegs she grabbed.

Cano continued trying to pull himself up more. He was physically strong, but climbing just made him winded and caused him to be agitated now. He continued his way up, and as he reached halfway, he noticed that Vixen was already at the top. She jumped onto the first floating platform, prompting Cano to try and pick up the pace.

Vixen leapt onto the third, fourth, and then fifth platforms before diving into the electrified foamy water below. She quickly pulled herself out of the water, pressing the buzzer to end her time. She shuddered due to the electricity of the water before she hopped off of the platform and onto the sand, heading to the sidelines.

"And Vixen stops the Lugias' clock at 7 minutes and 58 seconds!" Victini announced. "It'll be a miracle if the Ho-Ohs are able to catch up at this rate!"

Cano, who was panting after the climb up the wall, eyed the buzzer below next to the water. He started hopping onto the platforms, his weight bringing the platforms down, like Marie, as he pulled himself across them. Once he was on the final platform, he accidentally slipped and landed halfway in the oil pool and halfway in the foamy water.

He groaned, as he had landed on his stomach as slowly pulled himself into the water before pressing the buzzer and resting his head on the ground next to the buzzer. He still wasn't showing even the slightest discomfort as his fur rose from the electricity.

"And Cano clocks in at 16 minutes and 32 seconds," Victini replied. "Still not that impressive and he was beaten by his wife… Sad."

"Go. Fuck yourself. Victini," the Arcanine panted as he climbed out of the foamy water and hopped off of the platform.

He immediately headed toward Vixen, who held a cocky smirk as she was still catching her breath. He touched noses with her with a sneer. " _You got so fucking lucky…_ "

" _Maybe you should've been taking my offers to go to the gym more_ ," she countered with a smirk before they shared a quick kiss.

The others on the side rolled their eyes or gave them looks of genuine happiness.

 **000**

"Okay, so far the Lugias are in the lead by 8 minutes and 34 seconds, so even with the five minute subtraction, the Ho-Ohs would still be behind," Victini announced. "You Ho-Ohs better hope that the Lugias fuck up big time or else you'll be heading to another elimination."

"Next up, Sabrina vs. Ace," Mew said, unenthused.

Upon hearing that, Ace sighed, already knowing that he was going to be left in the dust. He sulked to the ramp, while Sabrina prepared to take flight with a smirk.

"Alright… GO!" Victini started.

 **-000-**

Sabrina instantaneously took flight, while Ace ran up the ramp. Sabrina completely flew past every single obstacle with a confident sneer. She reached the rock climbing wall and landed on the top.

"This was a piece of cake…" Sabrina giggled. She decided not to waste any more time, as she already was with her stopping. She continued her flight to the buzzer, flying underneath the platforms and landing on the buzzer with a smirk.

"And Sabrina stops the clock at 16 minutes and 50 seconds!"

"BULLSHIT!" Reta bellowed. "She can't just skip the entire course!"

"Hey, Egridos did the exact same thing. Don't you complain!" Marie growled. "Like he said, they didn't say anything against it, so it's allowed…"

The Lugias glared as the Staraptor flew over to the sidelines, high-winging her teammates, with the exception of Fez, who had a wing up, but was ignored.

Ace was at the pool at this point, and was annoyed at the fact that the pool was no longer frozen. He looked around for any other way and eyed the side barriers that were holding the water and eels in. He smirked; his balancing practice was about to come in handy.

The Sylveon carefully moved his first paw onto the thin barrier before slowly but surely including in the remainder of his paws. He took a breath before continuing across the barrier. However, because of the Eelektrik and Eelektross now being thawed out and active again, he had a lot more to worry about.

The eels were now attempting the attack Ace and pull him into the electrified water. He didn't know what'd happen if he fell off of the course, and he didn't want to find out, so he used Dazzling Gleam every time they snapped at him and jumped every time an Eelektross' arm swiped at him.

Eventually, he was able to leap onto the next platform with a sigh. He got back onto his feet and continued forward, with the eels in the pool growing angered.

He ran across the course, attempting to do a long jump over the dance floor, but with little success. He suffered painful shocks due to the constantly changing colors.

With a growl, he continued forward to the rock wall. Using his ribbons for extra support, he made his way up the wall. Suffering more shocks and whimpering as he made his way to the top. Eventually, he pulled himself up and smiled at his accomplishment. He peered at the floating platforms and took a breath. Getting into a pouncing stance, he leapt onto the first platform before looking down at the oil below.

He jumped once again with a smile before continuing his bounds across each platform until he ultimate made it to the final one. Looking down, he shuddered in anticipation of the shocks he was going to receive upon landing in the water, but he jumped down with a foam-filled _SPLASH_.

Ace, feeling all of electricity in the water, quickly pulled himself out of the water with shout as he stomped around, trying to get the pain he was feeling to stop.

"ACE, PRESS THE BUZZER!" Holly urged.

Ace seethed as he looked down and slammed his paw on the button to stop his team's clock. "Fuck my LIFE!"

"And Ace clocks in at 9 minutes and 43 seconds," Victini announced. "Still better than the Ho-Ohs."

Aura was laughing at the Intertwining Pokemon's pain as he dropped from the course and into the sand. "How'd that feel, fag boy?" she jeered as he limped over.

"As good as your son's cock, bitch," he snapped back with a glower.

A few of the others had to hold back their laughter and hide their shocked expressions. Aura seethed, wanting to strangle the Sylveon then and there.

Summer giggled. "You oughta stop insulting him. This is the second time he's owned you."

Aura huffed, looking away before realizing the situation. She gained a smug sneer. "That dirty faggot can talk all he wants," she started, earning a glare from Ace. "He's only making himself sound like my son's personal cum dumpster on national television. Not much else to it…"

Ace gaped and growled.

 **000**

 **Ace: Fuck… Aura…**

 **000**

"Alright, next pair… Brian vs. Macey. This should be _very_ interesting," Victini commented.

"Hehehehe", Macey giggled as she pulled out her Love Ray. "It sure will be!"

She was initially going to wait and do it randomly in private, but she had been holding in her excitement ever since she snagged it from Brian's lair. She couldn't wait any longer! Plus, with there being more males participating for the Ho-Ohs, it'd be an added distraction for her team to win and _not_ eliminate her!

Brian's eyes widened upon him seeing the unfinished weapon in Macey's hands. He noticed that it was gone earlier, but he decided to shrug it off and act like it was stolen to avoid doing it.

"WHAT!?" Brian exclaimed. "No, no, no! That's unfinished Macey!"

"Wait, Brian… YOU MADE HER _ANOTHER_ ONE!?" Chlotz blustered in panic.

"HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF A CRAZY FEMALE WAS BREATHING DOWN YOUR NEXT AND WOULDN'T LEAVE YOU ALONE UNLESS YOU COMPLY!?" Brian shouted back. "I HAD TO DO IT FOR MY OWN SANITY!"

"GO!" Victini called, amidst the chaos unfolding.

"My advice," Brian started. "If you're a male, you had better start fucking running!"

 **-000-**

The Reuniclus began floating up and over all of the obstacles, similar to what both Egridos and Sabrina had done. He heard the weapon blasting and shouts and yelling coming from the others as he left them. Eventually, he reached the buzzer and slammed it down to stop the clock.

"And Brian adds a whopping 11 seconds to the Ho-Ohs' time!" Victini announced. "This brings their total to 17 minutes and 1 measly second. If Macey ever gets done with her-"

"Finished!" Macey chirped as she suddenly appeared with her weapon in hairy hand and pressed the end buzzer.

"9 minutes and 58 seconds. Wow, Lugias, you guys are kicking ass," Victini complimented. "And Macey, if you hit me or Mew with that gay ray, we will disqualify you from this competition."

"Oh don't worry. Just knowing what you guys are is enough anyway," Macey replied, waving away his threat. She then turned her attention to Brian who was floating back over to the others. She wasn't going to fire at him; it wouldn't be logical to her, as he was the creator. Plus, he wasn't that attractive to take part in her fantasies. Sure, she knew what he was, but that didn't mean he'd look good as one in front of her. Knowing what he was going to do, she promptly vanished with her weapon.

"BRIAN!" Summer roared. "You need to fucking fix this NOW!"

Currently, every guy, with the exceptions of Ace and Taylor, was engaging in 'sexual interaction', which mainly consisted of kissing, among other things.

Every girl in a relationship was trying to hold their boyfriends or husbands back before almost all of the psychic-type and ghost-type females separated them. Chlotz, being the only dark-type male left with Skore's elimination last night, was the only one who wasn't able to be restrained by the psychic-types. However, since Ace was still in the right state of mind, he was able to knock Chlotz out before he got too close to him.

"BRIAN!" Farra snapped as the Reuniclus came back over. She instantly tackled him to the ground and the girls that weren't restraining the guys quickly surrounded him, excluding Holly, Amethyst, Ashton, Aura, and Aspen. There were murderous glares on each and every face around him.

"U-Uh, hi…" he nervously greeted.

"FIX THIS!" Annie demanded, pointing upwards at the floating males who were still trying to get at each other.

The other girls started yelling at him, which didn't bring back that many good memories from Parafrosyni. Instinctively, he teleported out of Farra's grasp and got in front of them.

"Will you fucking let me breathe!?" he exclaimed.

"You won't be breathing for long if you don't fix this bullshit," Luna snarled.

"Um, excuse me, we still have a challenge going on," Victini said, floating over to them.

"Um, excuse us, but our men are being forced to love each other because of this bastard and that gay-loving freak!"

"Not our problem," Victini jibed, folding his arms. "Now, all of the participants get back to your courses before _both_ teams go to elimination!"

"Hey, that'd be perfect. We can get rid of Twinkie and the Brain together!" Sabrina commented with a smile.

"Ha, I suggest that you _not_ if you want the guys back to normal," Brian stated, folding his arms, getting the girls to glare back at him.

"What was that, cell service?" Marie growled.

"If _I'm_ the one who knows how to fix this, what makes you think that eliminating me will do you any good?" Brian queried. "So, I'm saying that I'll fix all of this, but only if you fucking understand my problem and _don't_ vote me out. And this is just for the girls on _my_ team!"

"What? So, because you're a weak bitch of a male who can't handle a single girl, you expect us to just forget this all happened and let you stay?" Cramad growled. "Not a chance!"

"Okay, then I won't fix it," Brian replied, folding his arms. "Your loved ones will continue to have the hunger for the same gender and you'll just have to deal with it. And beating me won't help your case, either. Plus, with Macey still in possession of the device, whose to say that it won't happen again?"

"Okay, Annie and Ashton, if you two aren't in front of the courses in the next fifteen seconds, both teams will go to elimination and _nothing_ will be fixed," Victini announced. "I'll make sure of it personally."

The girls gaped and glowered at that fennec before turning back to Brian. Ashton was heading toward the course, as she wasn't a part of the angry mob.

"Well? Do we have a deal?" Brian urged seriously. "Now knowing that I can fix this and _possibly_ create more things to help in future challenges makes me a solid member that you'd be throwing away for personal bias."

Lassie growled. "Fine! If you shut the fuck up and get rid Macey's ray, you'll still be safe!"

"Annie, go," Marie commanded as Annie went over toward the course not occupied by Ashton.

"With one second to spare. You're lucky," Victini said with a glare, which the sideline contestants ignored. He turned to the two grass-types. "Three… two… one… GO!"

The two grass-types started the course, while the others were still wondering about the situation.

"Well, what are you waiting for? FIX IT!" Sola urged. "I don't need to see all of this!"

"If Macey still has the ray, what's the point of fixing it if she'll just do it again?!" Brian replied. "Now, I'll tell you the easy trick, but you'd better still hold up your end of the bargain. No elimination for me!"

"WHATEVER!" all of the girls exclaimed, causing the Multiplying Pokemon to cover his 'ears'.

"Electricity!" Brian blustered, pointing to the electrified pool. "All you have to do is shock them out of it. If they're unaffected by electricity, from what I remember, Alpha punched Jarred in the face and that knocked him out of it, too."

"So, all we have to do is dunk them into the damn electrified water?" Morgan asked incredulously. " _That's_ the big fucking cure?!"

"Or you could just use Thunder on them. Just any type of electricity," Brian explained. "Or knockout, like I said."

"That seemed to work for Chlotz-" Ace acknowledged as he and Taylor came over, with Chlotz in tow. The Shiftry held an agitated expression on his face, glaring daggers at Brian.

"What the hell, Brian?!" Chlotz exclaimed.

"My apologies," he replied.

"Wait, how come Taylor and Ace weren't affected by the ray?" asked Marie.

"It doesn't work on males that are already homosexual…" Brian replied simply, folding his arms, leading to Taylor's eyes widening.

"WHAT!?" the Milotic blustered.

" _Oh!_ So you're a twinkie, too," Ace teased. "I guess all of that fucking with Rex last season _wasn't_ just for strategy…"

Taylor blushed. "Fuck off! I still don't have a sexuality and I'm surely not a sausage guzzler like you!"

"Keep telling yourself that," Ace retorted, walking away as Taylor growled, following him.

"Alright, use Thunder on all of them!" Reta exclaimed as the three of them walked away.

Sally, Sola, and Morgan each used Thunder on the guys. The guys were dropped shortly after, with Klavier being the only one unaffected. Due to this, Sabrina went close to him.

"Sorry Klavier…" she apologized in advance before using Close Combat on the Gliscor. Seconds later, the Gliscor dropped to the ground.

The guys all groaned in pain as they slowly started to regain their normal thought processes. They started to get back onto their feet, with the girls sighing in relief and rushing over to them.

"AND ANNIE CLOCKS IN AT 21 MINUTES AND 31 SECONDS!" Victini exclaimed in an attempt to get everyone's attention back on the challenge.

"Crap," Morgan commented. "We need to get back in the game!"

With the guys back to normal, Cramad, Shine, Morgan, and Sally rushed back over to their courses. The guys, still a bit dazed, started heading back to their courses.

 **-000-**

Ashton, who was still on the course, was pulling herself up the wall, with her vines getting singed every time she grabbed an electrified peg.

After a few more minutes, Ashton finally made it to the top, panting. She eyed the clock near the hosts that was still going, and her eyes widened when she saw that she was closing in on 14 whole minutes! She started jumping across the platforms, almost slipping. She finally got to the final platform and landed in the foamy water, using a vine to touch the end buzzer.

"14 minutes and 17 seconds!" Victini exclaimed. "And Ashton effectively ruins the Lugias' far lead!"

"I didn't try to!" Ashton called as she pulled herself out of the water.

"Yeah, whatever…" Victini said, waving her away as she got off of the platform.

"You still did well, Ashton," Holly assured. "You just had trouble getting up the wall. It could happen to anyone."

Ashton gave her a small smile. "Thanks…"

"Well, excuse us, but it _didn't_ happen to anyone else on the team, so if we lose this, you're likely gonna be the one gone," Egridos spoke up.

Ashton, Amethyst, and Holly gave him looks of discouragement.

"We just got hypnotized into almost fucking each other and you're just gonna ignore it and try and vote for _her_ if we lose?" Kojo questioned in surprise. "You have your priorities screwed up."

"If the girls know how to fix us now, who the hell gives a shit about her?" Egridos questioned.

"Well, I'd rather not deal with it ever again, thank you!" Chlotz chimed in, annoyedly. "As far as I'm concerned, Ashton did us a favor! We lose this, we can eliminate the psycho."

Egridos groaned, rolling her eyes.

 **000**

"Alright! Next up Shine vs. Titan," Victini announced as the Espeon and Galvantula moved forward. Titan, despite his annoyance and confusion from being hit by Macey's ray, regained his focus and prepared himself. Shine wagged her tail slowly, already knowing her strategy, a look of seriousness etched onto her face.

"Ready? Set… GO!"

Shine immediately teleported from the spot she was in.

"And Shine doesn't even graze two seconds, raising the Lugias' time to a mere 14 minutes and _18_ seconds," Victini exclaimed.

"Of course she does," Titan groaned, rolling his eyes. The EleSpider Pokemon quickly crawled across the course, not feeling any sort of pain from the shocks.

 **-000-**

As Titan went across the the way, Kojo decided to strike up another conversation with Summer. There were couples and friendships across teams, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal in his eyes.

He moved over to her, which she noticed. A small smile formed on her lips as she sat down in the sand, like the others were doing.

"So, uh… how do you think this'll go at the end?" he questioned.

Summer sighed in response. "No idea. It's pretty close. There are more ghost-types and psychic-types participating on your team, so you guys are able to exploit the floating rule with more effectiveness."

"Hey, you guys are the ones with the five minutes that'll be taken away," Kojo retorted. "Plus, you still had Sabrina and Brian breeze through and Klavier will go soon, so that's an extra flyer for you. So, it's three 'exploiters' for each team."

"Huh, when you put it that way, it actually sounds somewhat fair," Summer chortled.

"Hey, what're you two doing?" Freezeo inquired, floating over as he noticed the two chatting, which they'd hardly ever done before.

A few others acknowledged his question as he went over to the two, much to their annoyance.

"Freezeo, kindly fuck off," Summer growled. "We're just talking. You know, conversing? Something that everyone does around here."

"I've just never seen you two talk before. It's weird," Freezeo replied.

"Hey, in these stupid seasons, things are gonna change! Deal with it!" Summer glared, folding her arms.

"Okay, okay, jeez," Freezeo replied as he floated back over to his group others.

"You should know not to bother Summer like that, Freeze," Reta commented. "She's really brash…"

"I can still hear you!" Summer called, causing Kojo to chuckle.

 **-000-**

Titan was currently climbing up the rock climbing wall without using any of the pegs. He made it to the top and easily made it across to the final platform. He used Electroweb to cover the water and keep himself from wasting time crawling out of the water. He leapt down, landing on the web, before pressing the button.

"And Titan ends the Ho-Ohs' time at 23 minutes and 8 seconds," Victini announced.

Titan hopped off of the course and headed to the side.

 **000**

"Alright, next up, Morgan vs. Klavier," Victini announced.

The Persian and Gliscor took their places in front of their respective courses. Klavier was smiling at the fact that he could just fly over and avoid everything, while Morgan had a confident, focused expression on her face.

"Alright, in three… two… one… GO!"

Klavier immediately took flight over the course, while Morgan went straight into the fray. Sprinting up the ramp, she braced herself for the electricity that she was going to feel into the box.

She went right through the box, getting tangled a bit by the wires. Eventually, though, she made it through and continued.

"Klavier finishes with 23 minutes and 17 seconds!" Victini exclaimed. "Let's see if Morgan wastes time or picks up the pace!"

Morgan huffed. "These fucks must not know me…" she said to herself as she continued sprinting forward, dodging the electricity from the gate. Passing by it, she reached the electric pool. Following Ace's example, she decided to use the barriers of the pool to make it across.

Unluckily for her, however, the eels were no longer taking the lack of action. One of the Eelektross reached out of the pool and dragged her into the pool, shocking her majorly. Morgan was trying to stay above water so that she wouldn't potentially drown. However, upon doing that, she recalled the best thing that this game had done for her and the others.

While underwater, Morgan took a breath, and felt no water into her lungs. She was still feeling pain from the electricity, but the fact that she was unable to drown was a good thing.

She felt herself getting weaker from the electricity and was eventually able to break free of the eels' grasps. She started swimming frantically due to the shocks, eventually making it to the other side, pulling herself up with the jumper cables.

Out of breath, she panted as she flopped back onto the platform, fur dripping water. "Arceus, this sucks," she breathed as she rose back up. She continued forward, her sopping wet fur a guaranteed conductor for the rest of the electrical obstacles.

Approaching the dance floor, she noticed a set of white squares that moved together, along with the other colored squares. Placing a paw down, she immediately withdrew it upon feeling an intense shock. She growled; she was going to have to just go for it.

She backed away a bit before taking a breath and rushing forward, taking a large leap over the floor, only to still be shocked upon having her hind legs landing on it.

"Fuck!" she shouted as she shook her hind legs after to get the jitters out.

Once she felt normal again, she continued forward, approaching the rock climbing wall with her fur still a bit wet. She started her climb up, and being a feline, she was able to climb up quickly, still taking every painful shock. She reached the top and started jumping across the platforms, eventually making to the final one and leaping down into the water. The foam had been pushed out by the players prior, leaving the water bare. She landed in the electrified water, growling at the shocks before hitting the buzzer as she pulled herself out.

"18 minutes and 43 seconds…" Victini announced. "The Lugias have now lost their lead!"

"And fuck this challenge, we lose!" Morgan exclaimed, not wanting the rest of her team to continue with the challenge. They needed to just focus on getting rid of Macey right now.

"What?!" Victini exclaimed.

None of the Lugias had protests or anger, they actually wholeheartedly agreed with the Classy Cat Pokemon.

"There is no way that this challenge is ending! We're _not_ doing this quitter shit this season!" Victini bellowed in anger.

"Oh be quiet, Dick-tini!" Fez exclaimed. "Let them get rid of the fucking psycho and they won't have any other reason to forfeit again."

"He has a point," Mew chimed in. "Eliminate the cause, reap the benefits."

Victini growled in agitation. "Fine, but this is the only time this better happen! If either team tries to forfeit again, they'll get a severe _dis_ advantage in the following challenge. Got it?"

Both teams' players nodded.

"Alright, in that case, the Ho-Ohs win, I suppose…"

No one cheered, though the Ho-Ohs had smiles on their faces.

"Lugias, we'll be seeing you at elimination where you will possibly fail at eliminating Macey!"

"You said no sabotage and there is no way that she is going to convince anyone _not_ to vote for her," Carson said.

Victini shrugged. "I don't know. Usually group planning to eliminate someone backfires. You never know."

The host's observation and statements caused the Lugias to glare, as they were now a bit more wary.

 **000**

Sparky was sitting at the gazebo with Luna and Cano, the latter having heard about the altercation this morning thanks to the former. The Luxray had his head lying on the table, appearing to be very upset about something. Luna had a semi-worried look on her face, while Cano had a nonchalant look on his face.

"Well? Are you gonna talk or just lie there like a lump?" Cano pressed, gazing his younger sibling with serious eyes.

"Could you not talk to me like that?" the Gleam Eyes Pokemon retorted tonelessly. "I'm not a fucking suspect..."

"Okay good, you're finally using words," Cano replied, causing Sparky to glare at him unfavorably. "Now, what happened this morning? Why'd you get so mad? That hardly ever happens."

"You wouldn't understand," Sparky replied, turning away before eyeing . "You brush everything that's said and done to the side most of the time."

"We're fucking related, jackass," Cano countered with a glare. "We grew up together, so you know damn well that I'm understanding. Now what happened?"

"Why does it even fucking matter?" Sparky parried. "It's not like it's gonna happen again now that they know what can happen."

Cano begrudgingly turned to Luna for answers. Upon meeting his gaze, Luna looked back to Sparky, who was looking to the side.

"According to the other guys that were in the cabin, Egridos and Taylor were insulting me and talking about how he and Vixen likely had an affair and all that shit," Luna explained.

Cano growled at the mention of the rumor before turning to his brother. "Well, I'm glad that you taught those fucks a lesson, but if the same shit starts happening to you like it did to Demenio-"

"It's never going to get to that!" Sparky snapped. "I'm a lot more headstrong and positive! This was a one time thing here. Sure it happened a couple of times outside of the game, but it doesn't mean it's gonna be more often here."

"You don't know that," Cano replied. "This game brings out the worst in people."

"Will you stop being so fucking negative all the time?!" Sparky seethed. "I swear, you always sound like you're completely done with life or that nothing will ever get better in life. Seriously, if you're just gonna mope and talk down to others, you might as well stay silent!"

Cano glowered at the Luxray before deciding to just leave him alone with his wife. He wasn't going argue, as it just wouldn't be worth it in his eyes.

Watching the larger canine leave, Luna sighed before turning back to Sparky, who rested his head on the table. Luna rested her head right across from him, looking thoughtfully into his eyes. She had a small smile on her face, which didn't alter Sparky's sad expression. She went around as sat next to him, which prompted him to wrap a paw around her and kiss her cheek, affection that she immediately returned with a nuzzle.

 **000**

 **Luna: I hope this psychotic thing doesn't go any further in this shitstorm of a competition. He's only done what he did a few times, so it wouldn't make any sense for it to happen unless someone forced it to.**

 **000**

Brian was in his lair, typing away on his large computer. After the conundrum that broke out during the challenge, the genius just wanted alone time. He didn't _want_ to make another weapon for Macey, but he just didn't want to deal with her in the slightest.

He was looking up previous seasons of the show just to get a better feel for everyone else. As he did, he suddenly felt a chill go down his spine. He groaned.

"Brian~," he heard from behind him.

"Macey, go away," Brian replied, not ever turning around in his 'evil lounge seat'. However, he was abruptly turned around by Macey, who had a devious smile on her face and her ray in her hands.

"Nah, I don't think so," she replied. "I need you to help me with something."

"No. No more," Brian replied. "This is the second season that you've bugged me with your obsession with same-sex intercourse and gotten me in trouble with a large group of females. I despise it!"

"Oh, please," Macey started, rolling her eyes. "Those jealous bitches know nothing about true love. They just take it on you because you help me. You can handle it."

"No, I-"

"Now," Macey interrupted, "I seem to be going home tonight. Which I expected as soon as I went against what I told myself. However, I want to leave a lasting impression, so I'd like you to upgrade my love ray so that it takes _more_ than just a shock to fix the guys."

"That'll just make my life here shorter!"

"You're a psychic-type. Figure out how to survive."

"I won't do it!" Brian refused, folding his arms. "You're an intellectual girl, and you're a ghost-type. Figure something out yourself…"

"LOSER LUGIAS! REPORT TO THE BONFIRE FOR YOUR SECOND ELIMINATION!"

Brian spun his seat back around to his computer. Macey glared at him, but suddenly gained an idea as she teleported out of the cave.

 **000**

 **Macey: My plan was going to be to blast the guys as they went into the confessionals to vote and make them vote for Morgan since she took far too long in the challenge and caused the forfeit, but I realized that there are less males and more females and effeminate males combined, so that wouldn't work.**

 **I know that I'm going, and even if I am, I'm gonna leave my mark. *kisses gun***

 **000**

All of the Lugias had gone to vote and came back, with Macey holding a relaxed smile. Everyone else had a smile as well, but it was one of satisfaction.

"Alright, the votes have been tallied and it is almost _unanimous_ , with the exception of one vote for Morgan," Mew announced. The Persian growled at the Gourgeist, who blew a raspberry at her. "The player going home is… Macey!"

Macey giggled. "That's fine."

"Oh no…" Chlotz groaned. "I have a bad feeling about-"

Suddenly, a crack was heard and gas started spraying in the air; it was the same gas that knocked out everyone before they were taken to the jail.

"Whoa!" Mew said as he teleported a gas mask over his face. He looked to the side and saw that Victini was suspicious already prepared.

Macey giggled, as her Insomnia ability didn't allow her to fall asleep.

"Macey, what are you doing?!" Mew exclaimed.

"I'm going to leave, don't worry, I'm just going to leave my mark really quick," Macey assured as eight of the ten males were teleported away from the group, as well as Macey.

"How the hell did she even set this up?!" Mew blustered in shock, eyeing all of the unconscious females. "Where'd she get the-"

He stopped mid-sentence before sighing and turning to Victini with an agitated look. "Seriously?"

"They shouldn't have forfeited. This is their consequence," Victini said with no remorse.

Macey soon teleported back with a disturbingly cheery smile on her face. "Okay. Ready," she chirped.

"Uh… Where'd you take the guys?"

"Somewhere special," Macey replied eerily.

"Works for me," Victini said happily.

 **000**

Macey was in front of the tubes.

"Alright, step right in," Victini urged.

Macey floated over the super vacuum, getting sucked in immediately with a scream.

Mew sighed. "Sad that we have so many competitors that are crazy as all shit."

"Nope, not sad. Great," Victini countered. "More personality."

Mew rolled his eyes.

"What will happen next time? Where'd the guys go? Will the girls kick Brian's ass more? What pain will they go through next? And will another team forfeit? Find out next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **And...done. As you can see, this chap had a significant portion of Kojo and Summer interaction, which I wanted to do just so that it's a bit more established. Sparky had an 'episode', which could either be a bad sign for the future or something to wave off. And Macey one again flips her wig immediately and gets herself eliminated rather early. At least the guys won't have to worry about her now, right? That is...wherever they are. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Macey: Review for the power of YAOI!**


	5. Tic-Tac-WHOA!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the competitors had a very shocking experience in an electricity-filled course. Kojo and Summer started hooking up a bit, bringing a will they or won't they scenario into play. Obviously they will, knowing this show, but it was an interesting way to do it. Sparky had an episode, bringing into question his sanity. Taylor and Connor teamed up, which is very concerning. Fez, with Cano's aid, came up with an idea to help his non-existent relationship with Sabrina. Will it work? Who knows? In the challenge, ten competitors from each team were pit against each other, with the losers getting the option of just the ten who participated to eliminate. There was a ton of pain and anger in the challenge, but the Macey definitely took the show, stealing her unfinished weapon from Brian and using it on her fellow competitors. Obviously, this didn't sit well, and in the end, surprise surprise, she got sucked away.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Following Macey's departure, the females from the Loser Lugias, along with Taylor and Ace, started to wake up. The grains of sand that covered their fur or hairless bodies were making them very uncomfortable as they rose up from their involuntary slumber.

"Ugh," Morgan groaned. "What happened?"

The other girls, and two guys, started looking around, realizing that they were still at the bonfire, which was no longer lit. It was still during the night, with the moon and stars providing their only light at the moment.

"Why are we still down here?" Ashton queried.

"A _better_ question is, where the hell are the other guys?" Farra questioned angrily, seeing that only Ace and Taylor were with them.

"And where's Macey?" Reta seethed.

Suddenly, rustling was heard from the foliage behind them. Being that they were in the dark, this somewhat started a few of them. Sally, using her tail light, walked a bit closer to the rustling brush in order to see what was there.

"What the hell is that?" Reta questioned suspiciously; the rustling continued as she asked.

"I don't know, but if it's Macey, she's getting her ass beat!" Sola growled.

Shortly after that was uttered, the rustling and the crushing of leaves grew a bit louder. Soon enough, a familiar looking Typhlosion's head burst through the lush greenery, looking around. The girls sighed in relief.

"There you all are," the Eruption Pokemon spoke as she came out onto the beachfront. The rustling started once again, and soon the other females on the Ho-Ohs, with the exception of Aura and Aspen, followed suit.

The other females were shocked to suddenly see the other girls come before them. It was a bit peculiar, but they had the sickening feeling that they had the same issue.

"What are you all doing here?" Shine inquired, tilting her head in confusion.

"Did you guys vote out that psycho Gourgeist?" Sabrina responded seriously, landing in the sand.

"Of course!" Vixen replied. "We'd be idiots not to!"

"Okay, so if you guys voted her out… where did all of the guys on our team go?" Annie inquired, bewildered.

"Wait…" Holly started. "What if Macey never left? Like Clay?"

All of the girl's eyes widened.

"Well, that sucks for you chicks," Taylor remarked indifferently. "Now, I'm gonna go get some sleep. You all have fun in your little quest…"

The Milotic slithered in the direction of the cabins, making the girls to glare at him aggravatedly. Ace shook his head in disagreement. "Jackass," the Sylveon commented.

"He sure is an arrogant poof," Lassie commented, folding her arms.

"We need to find that bitch," Luna snarled. "If she's got all of the males together with that stupid ray of hers, who knows how far she's gonna make them go."

"While I don't find it suitable, the more I think, the more I realize that this isn't something to completely lose our minds over," Pia commented, earning glares from almost all of the girls, especially the ones who were married or had feelings for one of the guys.

"Do you mind explaining that dumb statement?" Cramad questioned heatedly.

"Well, the government has brainwashed society into thinking that homosexuality is something that should never happen just because _they_ don't like it," Pia started. "You girls are acting like that part of society that are sheep to whatever the government deems unorthodox. You are in a relationship with a male who loves you, that's wonderful. Currently, they are being _forced_ to partake in the homosexual behavior, meaning that they still have feelings for you. Also, we know the way to fix them, so freaking out is not necessary. You're not going to lose your mates to 'the gay'."

The girls and Ace stared at her in unamusement.

"Can I slap her?" Summer questioned.

"Pia, you don't seem to get the fucking point," Marie started. "None of us have a problem with gay people. If we did, both Ace and Taylor would be on the brink of death, even though it's no longer possible for us."

Ace paled upon hearing that, taking three steps back.

"The main point is… the guys know that they're straight. _We_ know that they're straight. Some of us are either married or are dating them," the Feraligatr continued. "It's about _not_ being forced to do something that you're not into!"

Pia didn't respond, seemingly because she didn't have a response.

"That being said, where the hell would she take them?" Marion asked.

"Maybe we can find and ask Brian," Amethyst suggested softly. She wasn't really heard by anyone other than Holly and Ashton, who were nearest to her.

"Oh, that's a good idea," Holly responded, patting the Tundra Pokemon's head.

"What's a good idea?" Lassie questioned.

"We need to find Brian," Ashton responded. "If we find him, maybe he'll know where Macey took the guys. He's the only one she ever really talks to."

"That's right!" Farra realized before glaring. "Let's go!"

"Wait, isn't Brian a guy, too?" Marion countered. "How do we know that he's not with her?"

"She didn't blast him during the challenge. Why would she do it now?" Morgan retorted. "Now come on!"

Immediately all of the girls and Ace started heading back to the cabins.

 **000**

Brian groaned as he felt something wet continuously stroke against his body. His eyes flickered open and he noticed that a Linoone was licking him. "What the- EW!" he exclaimed as he floated up, getting out of Rapid's grasp.

The Linoone immediately scurried back into Brian's cave, which brought a look of confusion to the Reuniclus' face. "How in the world did I end up outside of my lair?" he asked himself before a memory suddenly hit him.

 **-000-**

 _Brian was typing on his computer when he heard a large slam, which made him jump. "What the heck?"_

 _Turning around, he saw almost every male contestant lying on his lair floor. "Uh… What just happened?"_

 _None of the guys were awake, so they were obviously unable to explain themselves. Being who he was, Brian began poking them, only for a large Shadow Ball to hit him, knocking him against his computer._

 _With a pained groan, he rubbed his head before seeing Macey floating above the pile of male bodies, ray in hand._

" _Macey? I thought that you-" he was cut off by another Shadow Ball to the face, knocking him out cold._

 **-000-**

"Oh right…" he recalled, rubbing his head. He then let out a groan as he heard unsavory moans and grunts coming from the inside of his lair. "Do I even dare?" he questioned himself. He just needed to see if Macey was still inside or not.

Against his better judgment, he floated toward his lair and peered inside only to jerk his head back out. He twitched. "Nope, no Macey. But I will definitely be needing a new… everything," he shuddered as he floated back to the campgrounds.

 **000**

The girls had been looking all around the camp and nearby parts of the forest trying to find Brian, but with no luck. After nearly thirty minutes of searching, they all returned to the center of camp with worried and annoyed expressions.

"Where the hell could that bastard be?!" Shine growled.

"Couldn't we just teleport the guys back here?" Sally suggested. "I mean, we have psychic-types, remember?"

"That's true, but if Macey's still here, she could bring them right back to her," Annie countered.

Sabrina groaned. "This is so fucking disgusting and aggravating to think about!"

"Aww…" they heard as they looked and saw Aura and Aspen on the front porch of the Winner's Cabin. Immediately, all of the girls, and Ace, who were searching glared daggers at the two because of their lack of cooperation.

"You girls having trouble finding your little men?" Aura teased.

"At least we have men to find!" Vixen retorted.

"And which one are you looking for, exactly?" Aspen chimed in, causing both Luna and Vixen to snarl.

"Just take your irrelevant asses back into the cabins!" Ace snapped. "You're not helping with anything, so your comments are unwelcome."

"Freedom of speech, queer!" Aspen retorted.

"Okay, can we just ignore Lady and the Tramp over there and focus on _this_ problem?!" Cramad exclaimed, trying to get everyone focused again.

Shortly after, rustling was heard from nearby bushes. The girls all turned in that direction and immediately saw Brian emerge.

"There he is!" Reta bellowed angrily before all of the girls stampeded toward the Reuniclus. Brian, hearing Reta yell, turned in that direction and saw all of the girls charging toward him. Instinctively, he floated upwards to avoid being tackled like last time.

"Why is it always me?!" the Reuniclus exclaimed from above.

"Where's Macey?!" Luna yelled as the Multiplying Pokemon slowly floated downwards.

"She got eliminated," Brian answered, causing the girls to exchange looks of confusion.

"Wait, no she's not," Sola replied. "All of the guys are still gone except for you, Ace, and Taylor!"

"Well, I just checked in my cave and currently there is _no_ Macey, but all of the guys are having a huge gangbang…"

"WHAT!?" all of the girls bellowed in surprise.

"Where… is your cave?" Lassie seethed.

 **-000-**

Brian led the girls to his cave, where the moaning had seemed to cease and was replaced with exhausted pants. Brian gazed inside and shuddered before turning back to the girls.

"If you know Thunder, you may want to hurry up and get in there while they're catching their breaths…" Brian remarked. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to take a hot shower to get the images out of my head…"

When he floated away, the girls exchanged looks of unsurety.

"Well, you heard the delusional genius, get in there and stop them!" Sabrina urged, looking at Sally.

Sally groaned as she started walking forward. Noticing that she was the only one, she immediately stopped and glared back at the other girls. "Morgan! Sola! You two better come, too. I'm not going in here alone!"

Both felines groaned before following the ewe into the cave. Almost immediately, shouts of displeasure were heard from the inside of the cave before a bright yellow light and yells of pain emanated from the cave.

The three girls quickly rushed out, each looking very distressed and unsettled.

"Arceus, it's bad in there. It was everywhere!" Sally shuddered.

"Well, when they wake up, we know that the first place they're gonna go is the shower!" Marie stated.

The girls all nodded in agreement as they decided to wait for the guys to regain their sense, which didn't take all that long.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yep," Farra heard as all of the guys quickly ran out of the cave, some heading to the showers and others to the beach. "Well, if Macey's gone, there's nothing to worry about anymore. Let's… get to bed I guess, after we check on some of the guys, of course."

The girls nodded in agreement before heading back to the campgrounds.

 **000**

After all of the guys were cleansed of unsavory bodily fluids, they couldn't look at each other the same way, and most of them very bad pain in their lower extremities. They all just decided to avoid talking to each other and just went to bed to sleep off the discomfort and pain.

 **000**

The next morning, the males from the Lugias started waking up, a good majority of them facing away from each other due to the events of the previous night. None of them even wanted to speak about it. Well, _almost_ none of them.

"So, how'd it feel to fuck each other last night?" Taylor questioned curtly after a while of silence in the cabin. "I'm sure your asses are pretty sore…"

"Go fuck yourself," Kojo growled, turning to face him with a scowl. "You didn't have to go through what we did, so shut the hell up!"

"Ooh… touchy~," Taylor jeered. "You guys are a punch of pansies. And I'd rather fuck myself than go through the shit you all did."

"So, you call us pansies, and then proceed to say that you wouldn't want to go through what we did?" Striker questioned. "Sounds to me like you contradicted yourself there…"

"Guys, just ignore his bullshit," Ace commented as he lied in his bed. "He's just insulting you guys because you all don't know that he's gay."

Immediately, all of the guys' eyes went to Taylor, who froze. The Milotic growled, glowering at Ace. "I am _not_ a faggot like you. Don't even start that shit again."

"Denial is the clincher," Egridos remarked. "Congrats, you _are_ a faggot…"

"Okay, could we stop using that word?" Carson chimed in. "Frankly, it's annoying and insensitive to gay people."

"Sticks and stones can break bones, and words don't hurt shit," the coffin retorted. "Learn to grow a backbone. Or at least a pair of balls…"

Immediately, almost every guy, excluding himself, Taylor, and Ace, groaned and shuddered.

"Way to bring up _that_ part," Sparky commented, looking sickly.

"If denial is a fucking clincher, then I can easily say that you all enjoyed your time last night," Taylor countered, glowering at Egridos. "So, fuck your logic."

"Even without that logic, you'd still be gay," Chlotz responded. "You weren't affected by the ray, and Brian said that it didn't work on gay people. You were absolutely fine with leading me on and fucking Rex for the majority of our season. You don't show any interest in females unless you're insulting them. So all signs are pointing to it."

"FUCK YOU!"

"I'm glad that we're all joining together to bombard this one bastard with insults and teasing about his sexuality. It makes everything that happened yesterday almost nonexistent!" Frosty commented sarcastically.

"Hey, I'd rather do _this_ than think about that BS!" Kojo exclaimed.

The guys continued going back-and-forth with each other while staying in the cabin.

 **000**

Meanwhile, the guys of the Ho-Ohs had their own ways of coping. The wives or girlfriends of some of the guys decided to sleep with them in order to make them feel better; no sexual contact was made during that time other than normal kisses. More than half of the males on the team were without this luxury, as Cano, Titan, Rapid, and Dhaunt were the only ones with actual spouses in the game.

As a result, they were all in the same room, while the other guys had to sleep with no reassurance or comfort. Or, at least a few of them did…

Anthony was still snoozing as the sun shined onto his face from the window nearest to him. What he'd possibly done to the other guys the night prior was eating at him and he didn't even really _feel_ any of it. The Blastoise growled to himself, scrunching his face before his eyes slowly flickered open. As he regained his bearings, he realized that he had an arm wrapped around something. Something… scaly.

His eyes widened when he realized his arm was draped over _Marie_! He quickly retracted his arm from the shock, causing him to fall off the bed with a loud _THUMP!_

That sudden noise startled a few others that were in the room awake, including Marie, who was just as surprised at her position as Anthony.

"What the hell is going on?" she questioned, looking around as she saw an arm grab onto the bed.

"I could ask you the same thing!" the Shellfish Pokemon countered, rising up. "Why are you in my bed?!"

"This is _my_ bed! What are you talking about?!" Marie retorted, glaring at him.

"What?! This is _not-_ " Anthony started before realizing that Summer, Sabrina, Luna, and Pia were staring at the two of them. "Oh… Crap. Well, this is great," he remarked sarcastically as he got to his feet. Without another word, he headed to the door, with the girls' eyes following him out.

Once he was out of the room, the girls, minus Pia, turned back to Marie with suggestive expressions. Seeing these looks, Marie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Get your heads out of the gutter. There's nothing going on between us."

"Noone said anything about that," Luna teased with a smirk.

"Well your faces say otherwise," Marie retorted as she got out of her bed. "I don't know when the hell he got into my bed, but know that _nothing_ happened!"

"Whatever you say," Summer giggled.

 **-000-**

Anthony grumbled to himself as he went into the kitchen just as a few of the other guys were heading out of the cabin. The Blastoise grabbed a bowl from the cabinets and some Froot Loops from the top of the fridge. Pouring the flavored rings into the bowl, Anthony shook his head upon thinking about how close he was to Marie in her bed.

He didn't have anything against her, but it was just a weird experience to him. He honestly didn't mind the situation, but the pure surprise of it was what drove him off of the bed. He wasn't usually one to think about that sort of thing, as he wanted to focus on trying to have his life in check. However, being surrounded by so many females that, despite how he acted around them, he found attractive deep down, was starting to eat at him. He closed the box of cereal and placed it back on the top of the fridge before opening it and taking out the milk.

As he did this, Marie headed to the front and folded her arms. Anthony turned to her and they locked eyes. They remained that way for a few seconds before Anthony poured the milk onto his cereal and placed it back into the fridge.

"I just want to clarify," she started. "Just because we're in an alliance, that doesn't mean that it's okay to sneak into my bed…"

Anthony gave her a look. "You seriously think that was intentional? I don't even know how I ended up in your room!"

"So, what? You just magically ended up in the same bed as me?" Marie queried sarcastically.

"How the hell should I know? I was unconsciously fucking the other guys last night!" the Blastoise countered as he picked up his bowl and headed to the table.

"Ugh… don't remind me of that shit!" both water-type starters heard from the living room. Cano was lying on his back on the large velvet couch, with Vixen lying on his chest. "I've never felt so dirty before in my life."

"Hey, at least maybe now the heat will be off of your wife and change to you," Anthony surmised before taking a spoonful of cereal.

"Oh, gay speculation about me now," Cano said sarcastically. "That's _great_."

Anthony chortled to himself.

"You know that the same thing will happen to you, so I don't know why you're laughing," Marie chuckled, folding her arms.

Anthony, immediately upon that thought being put into his head, looked down at his bowl of cereal and immediately felt sick to his stomach. He glared at the Feraligatr beside him. "Thanks for that!" he growled.

"My pleasure," she teased as Anthony rolled his eyes before she got closer. _"We're gonna have a meeting on the beach in about thirty minutes, just so you know_."

"Joy," he said, rolling his eyes.

 **000**

Freezeo, Rapid, Reta, and Sally were at their usual meeting location, with Chlotz and Pia being the only ones absent. Rapid was still feeling a bit shaken, while Freezeo held a rather unbothered look on his face.

"I hate life right now," Rapid groaned as he lie flat on the ground, with Reta stroking his head. "Last night was _so_ bad…"

"Aw come on, it wasn't that bad," Freezeo opined. "It happened once, and with Macey eliminated, it's not guaranteed to happen again."

"Unless Victini acts like the jackass he is and dedicates an entire challenge to it," Sally replied. "And why are you so calm and cool about the situation? Almost all of the other guys are traumatized."

"Because acting awkward and traumatized doesn't change the fact that it happened," Freezeo explained. "The only way to get over it is to just accept it and move on with your life, which is what I'm doing."

"Well sorry, but not everyone is going to think the same way as you," Reta retorted with a glower toward the snowflake. "It's not easy to deal with, and this is coming from a female!"

Freezeo groaned. "Okay, fine. I don't know what sulking is going to do to help in this game, but Rapid's gotta get over it soon."

"Hey, while you're complaining about my man feeling bad about being borderline raped, why don't you go fetch Chlotz so we can try and figure out our next move in this game?" Reta chided.

"He's likely still in the cabins with the other guys on you guys' team, and I don't think that telling him to come to an alliance meeting will sit well with them," Freezeo reasoned. "And specifically asking for him is also suspicious, because it _insinuates_ an alliance, which will likely get him questioned and eliminated."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to talk without him and Pia," Sally concluded. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, for our team, I think they should just start listening to me more since I actually came up with the idea that got us far ahead!" Reta stated haughtily.

"Reta, you can't automatically assume that because you showed your usefulness for _one_ challenge, you're automatically always gonna be right," Sally replied. "The others would be against you, and that's not a good thing."

"And if they go against me, they're idiots," Reta remarked. "I'm trying to help just as much as they all are, or at least _some_ of them are. Getting rid of an actual team player rather than someone who does nothing productive is a sign of a team based on emotion and not intellect."

Sally rolled her eyes. "If you say so…"

"Well, I don't know what to say about my and Rapid's team. I mean, I don't think there's anything we can really do to make it better," Freezeo replied.

"Hmm, well if that's the case, maybe you can provide us with some strengths and weaknesses of your teammates in return for freezing us," Reta suggested with a smirk.

"I don't know them that well!" Freezeo bellowed.

"Well you still owe us!" Sally countered. "You'd better find out a way to make your team lose or give us information about them or else…"

"Or else what?"

"... I don't know," Sally responded with a shrug. "But just know that it _won't_ be good."

Freezeo blinked in response.

 **000**

Fez had asked Sabrina and Klavier to meet him near the top of the cliff to talk. Sabrina was suspicious about her ex's request, and Klavier was still uncomfortable from last night. Despite their conflicted feelings toward the idea, they flew to the cliff.

Upon reaching it, they saw Fez standing at the cliff, waiting. The Staraptor and Gliscor both landed on the cliff and started approaching him. The Unfezant had a small smile on his face, a strange occurrence that didn't happen all that often.

"What do _you_ want?" Sabrina questioned curtly, holding a glare toward the bird.

"I came up with an idea that I think can fix our relationship!" he chirped enthusiastically.

"You _cheated_ on me," Sabrina reminded irately. "I don't think _anything_ will be able to fix what we had. The relationship is over. Why are you still insisting that we-"

"Okay, so I was thinking that since my cheating was what caused our relationship to go off the rails, you can have sex with Klavier in front of me and everything will go back to normal!"

"WHAT!?" both Klavier and Sabrina bellowed, eyes widened in shock before they exchanged glances and stepped away from each other.

"Oh come on, it's not like it'd be a weird thing. You two actually know each other, so-"

 _SMACK!_

He was cut off by a slap from Sabrina that even made Klavier flinch. Fez rubbed the side of his face, genuinely confused as to what caused the sudden attack.

"I AM NOT SOME KIND OF SLUT THAT CAN YOU CAN SET UP SEX DATES FOR!" the Staraptor bellowed. "WE ARE OVER! GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD!"

And with that, she flew away. Klavier, who had remained silent the entire time, looked at Fez before just flying away. The Proud Pokemon sighed in disappointment.

 **000**

 **Fez: What was the problem? Any girl that passionate about hating someone for cheating has to jump at a chance for revenge!**

 ***Sigh* I guess I just fucked up even more. Great…**

 **000**

Marie and Anthony were back on the beach, waiting for Summer to meet up. During this time, the two remained in silence, as they both knew that they'd likely end up talking about them sleeping together. It shouldn't have been as big a deal as they were making it, but there wasn't much too much the two starters had in common that they could speak about.

"Ugh, where's Summer?" Marie groaned. "She shouldn't be taking this long to get here!"

"Just let her be. It's not like we're gonna have much to talk about since we've won the past two challenges…" Anthony replied.

"We only lost the last challenge because the other team _wanted_ to forfeit so that they can get rid of Macey," Marie replied, folding her arms. "If none of that happened, we would have probably lost for sure."

"Hey, Morgan screwed their lead. We still would have had a chance…" Anthony countered. "Especially since Rapid was next and he's pretty fast."

"And they had Sally and Sparky left. Two electric-types that could take everything dished out and probably do it quickly," the Feraligatr retorted. "Plus, we still had freaking _Cramad_ left, and I'm not that confident in her speediness…"

"We still had the five minute subtraction, too," Anthony reminded. "If the gap between the final times was small enough we _could_ have still won!"

Marie groaned, growing vexed at the argument. "Okay, you know what? Let's just stop. The challenge is over, what happened happened, let's just… try to move on."

"Hey, you're the one who started it by bringing it up," Anthony replied with a shrug.

Marie glowered at him in annoyance. "Where the hell is Summer?" she questioned, really needing her friend there so she wouldn't lose her mind.

 **-000-**

"Is that better?" Summer giggled as she sat in Kojo's lap in the forest.

The Mienshao sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist. " _Much_ ," he replied contently. "After last night, I definitely need more female interaction."

Summer smiled. "What type of _interaction_ are you speaking of?" she asked coyly.

Hearing the flirtatiousness in her voice, Kojo chuckled. "Not _that_ kind. Just… this."

He hugged her more, feeling her warm fur and sweet, natural scent. He was always used to Floatzelle's perfume clogging his nostrils and often making him feel faint. It felt so nice to have a female friend who didn't mask her true fragrance. Hearing him go silent, but continue to hug her from behind, Summer blushed and just leaned back against him.

She had never felt this type of care and love before other than from her parents. Ray only wanted her to make waffles all the time and used her butt as a pillow for a good majority of the relationship, but he still seemed like a genuinely sweet guy despite the lack of _real_ attention. Yashima, on the other hand, just wanted sex. So, it was obvious that the relationship wasn't that good.

Summer gained sultry eyes and flipped around so that she was face to face with the Martial Arts Pokemon. Feeling this shift, Kojo opened his eyes to meet the Typhlosion's in front of him. Unconsciously, the two slowly leaned in before locking lips for the second time. This time, the kiss lasted much longer before finally breaking it.

Their lips remained significantly close to one another as they locked eyes once again. Suddenly, they initiated another kiss, this time one with much more passion. Summer adjusted herself in the mustelid's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck before being brought to the ground. Their tongues started to wrestle at this point and Kojo was starting to rub and stroke Summer's thighs.

"Wait, wait, wait…" the Eruption suddenly said, breaking the kiss with Kojo. The two of them were panting from the lack of air, and also beginning to feel awkward about the situation they were putting themselves in.

Summer sighed as Kojo looked to the side in uncertainty. "I think we're moving too fast, again…" she admitted sheepishly, feeling a bit guilty having initiated the entire series of events. "Sorry."

"No, no, I-uh, I think you're right," he replied, rising off of her. "Things got a bit heated. No pun intended."

Summer sat up as the two stared at each other for a while before Summer finally decided to get back on her feet. "I hope I helped you erase last night from your mind."

"... And you remind me of it again," Kojo shuddered, making Summer giggle.

"Well then," she started alluringly, tickling the underside of his chin. "Maybe we'll have to do that against sometime if the horrible memory persists…"

Kojo chuckled. "We really need to hurry up and get to that level. Maybe we can just start dating and see where things go along the way."

Summer had begun to leave, but hearing that idea sparked interest from her. She was the one who suggested waiting much longer before truly starting a relationship with him, but just then, they were very close to having sex right then and there in the heat of the moment. At this point, it was fairly obvious that they really liked each other, so maybe Kojo's idea could work out.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how that'd work, but I suppose that it'd be okay," Summer said, rubbing her arm nervously as a blush started to form on her face.

Kojo smiled, as did Summer. "Well, if that's the case… Do you wanna go out with me? And just see what happens as we go?"

Summer giggled. "I'd love to," she accepted this time.

Kojo walked up to, and hugged her, which she happily accepted. The two just stayed in each other's embrace for a while before releasing each other. "So, what now?"

Summer started to reply before remembering about her meeting. Her eyes widened immediately.

"Oh crap, I just remembered, I have to go meet up with others on my team," Summer explained, looking back in the direction of the beach.

"Oh, that's fine," Kojo replied. "I'm just glad that I actually have someone I can call a girlfriend now."

"Speaking of which… What about your ex-bitch?" Summer questioned.

"Screw her," Kojo replied before grabbing Summer's hand. "I've got _you_ now, right?"

Summer smiled at him. "Right. Well, now I have to go."

"Okay, see you in the challenge," he said as she leaned down to kiss him. She promptly left, with Kojo following to get back to the campgrounds.

 **000**

 **Summer: Okay, I already know people are gonna say that we got together too fast, but who cares? Some teens get together quick and move on. Why can't adults?**

 **000**

 **Kojo: I hope this lasts. She's such an awesome girl and I don't want any shit from this game to ruin it. I'm unsure if we should let the teams know. There's marriages and relationships across the teams, but they were established years ago. New relationships may not be as accepted...**

 **000**

Carson, Holly, Ashton, and Amethyst were sitting at the gazebo. Because they weren't able to sit around and enjoy some television like they could before, the gazebo in the open seemed to be the next best thing.

"You sure you're okay, Carson?" asked Holly. "Last night had to have been a bad experience for you guys."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Carson replied. "I don't think anything was even able to be done to me, which is a good thing. Though, the goop being _everywhere_ was a bit disheartening and made me throw up when I went to the ocean."

"I can imagine," Ashton spoke, shuddering a bit. "But, we're all lucky that Macey is now gone."

"Exactly," Holly said. "Keep that attitude. Being negative won't solve anything."

"And neither will being positive, honestly," Amethyst meekly countered. "Smiling through the pain doesn't help in any situation, it just makes everything worse. The more anger and sadness we hold in, the closer we'll be to losing our minds one day."

"Wow Amy, it's not usually like you to be so negative," Carson acknowledged.

"Yeah," Holly agreed. "Are you okay?"

Amethyst sighed, her face resting on the table. The three of them knew of her past regarding her being raped, so the fact that the guys had to practically go through the same thing was already extremely upsetting to her, though she didn't really show it. Also, the fact the Holly was still trying to push the narrative that 'staying positive makes everything better' was a bit annoying.

But, being who she was, she couldn't really get that off of her chest at the risk of offending a friend, so she decided to just go along with it. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Amy's not wrong, though, Holly," Ashton reasoned. "Not showing emotions can lead to pent up anger and aggression that'll end up hurting us in the end."

Holly sighed in defeat. "I'm just trying to keep our spirits up. This game is bound to bring up and do more unsavory things to us. I just don't us to get frustrated so fast."

"Holly, if we were able to handle season four, we should be able to handle this season," Carson reasoned. "I mean, I may be terrified of what'll happen around here, but we'll have to deal with it until we're eliminated anyway..."

The girls exchanged looks.

 **000**

"Well, looks like you were right, Farra," Striker admitted as he, Farra, and Frosty sat around the bonfire, as per usual. "The last vote had nothing to do with the challenge… and I'm certainly glad it didn't!"

"Oh-ho I know that you _are_ glad," Farra responded. "That crazy bitch really made you guys do a number on each other."

" _DON'T_ remind us…" Frosty bellowed. "That was the worst thing that has ever happened to me and I'd like to erase it from memory."

"Sorry," Farra apologized. "You're right. She's gone now, let's just try and forget about it."

"Thank you," Frosty responded with a sigh of relief. "So, what's the plan this time? Nothing again? I mean, like you said, the eliminations barely have anything to do with the challenges anymore. Clay got eliminated for having murderous thoughts and he's _still_ on the island for some reason! Skore got eliminated for winning first season, and Macey just got eliminated, deservingly, for trying to make all of us screw during the challenge."

"Basically, the name of the game is 'don't do anything that'll piss others off'," Striker remarked.

"That's what I hate about these shows," Farra spoke. "People who are on them only think about themselves and what offends them. Like, someone could do completely shitty in a challenge and possibly cause more losses for a team, but if someone else had sex with someone else's husband or wife, or they said something offensive, _they'll_ get eliminated instead."

"Yeah, that's pretty dumb, but that's Pokemon nature," Frosty explained. "We all have emotions and when we're put in certain situations, we react in different ways. There's nothing we can do about it."

"And that sucks," Striker opined. "Well, at least we haven't done anything to piss anyone off. That, at least, ensures our safety for a while."

"It'd better," Farra grumbled. "If all of a sudden one of us gets fucked over like Skore, I'm going to be pissed."

 **000**

Annie was going for a walk around the lake, as she was bored out of her mind. As she strolled around, the wet grass tickling and soaking her dainty little feet, she noticed Titan and Cramad sitting together, facing toward the forest, as if having a conversation with the foliage.

Curious, she approached the insect couple, and it seemed that they almost instantly noticed her, as they turned in her direction as she walked up. She could have sworn that she heard rustling of the foliage, as if someone was running away. However, the thought of that was quickly erased by Cramad's greeting.

"Hello Annie," the Parasect greeted. "What are you doing here?"

Annie sighed. "I'm just bored. There's nothing to do around this island but walk. At least the first island had a stadium, gym, jail to talk to others, and just things that are more interesting. Around here, there's just the campgrounds, this place, that old school, and the volcano. It sucks."

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that Mew and Dick-tini had those places constructed before we got there," Titan spoke. "I mean, what kind of island just has a stadium, a gym, a jail just there automatically?"

"Yeah, Titan's right. Maybe you can ask Mew to teleport more things or ask some interns or Zahku to build us more things to have," Cramad suggested.

Annie thought about it momentarily, but shook her head. She didn't have much faith in Mew, given his attitude toward this season as a whole. "I'm not so sure about that. Mew doesn't seem too happy to do anything this season."

"Hmm, that's true," Cramad thought out loud, "but, it couldn't hurt to try."

Annie let out a sigh. "It's fine. Just forget it," she finally said, wanting to change the subject. "So, how's you guys' relationship working out?"

"Uh…" Titan started as the two looked at each other. "It's actually pretty good."

"Yeah. No complaints," Cramad responded. "What about you?"

"Hmm?" Annie hummed questioningly. "What about me?"

"You got your eyes set on anyone at the moment?" Cramad questioned. "Or are you still with the Simisage?"

"Aaaaand girl talk," Titan interrupted. "I'll be over here," he made known as he started walking away, leaving the two girls to talk.

Annie sighed once Titan left. "Vince is long gone. As soon as he saw the episode when we came back in the All-Stars season, he moved out, took all of my jewelry to pawn it, and left me a note saying that he was only using me for money anyway."

"What?" Cramad inquired in shock. That was something that she'd expect to hear on a soap opera, not in reality. "That's awful."

"Yeah, that jackass never loved me. He actually had two side girls and one of them was pregnant…" she went on.

Cramad froze. That was _definitely_ some dramatic soap opera stuff. "Okay, that's just completely insulting and disrespectful."

"I know!" Annie bellowed in agreement. "I just… I don't know what I did wrong..."

"Honey, don't think that it's your fault," Cramad said, wrapping a claw around her. "Men like him are the scum of the planet. They only want you because you have something that they don't and then toss you away as soon as they feel like you're wrapped around their finger."

"Have you had this problem before Titan?" Annie asked curiously.

"Well, Titan was the only guy I ever dated, so no, not really," Cramad answered sheepishly. "He actually helped me understand the world better."

Annie sighed. "I wish Striker and I were able to stay together as long as most of you other guys have. We didn't do much, but he was still nice, despite it. Now, that bitch Farra's breathing down his neck at every waking moment and it just sickens me."

"Well, at this point I think they're just friends," Cramad replied. "I mean, I don't really know what to make of their relationship since I don't know either of them that well, but-"

"She was completely obsessed with him when she first got into this game!" Annie blustered. "Now all of a sudden she's acting like his personal bodyguard or something and acting like they're actually friends."

"Well, she _did_ give up her place in the final two for him, so I can see why he may see her as a friend, now," Cramad explained.

"After torturing him throughout the season," Annie added.

Cramad was confused as to why she was suddenly bringing up Striker and expressing her utter odium towards Farra. Did it really mean something?

"Wait, you're getting really offensive and touchy when bringing up what happened to Striker. Do you… still like him?"

Annie faintly blushed. "Not really. I mean, nothing's really changed. He's still a Metapod who hangs around with the lovable idiots of the show. Despite that, I wouldn't mind trying to start over with him. But, with Farra holding him on some kind of leash, I don't think it'll ever happen."

"Wait, so you _don't_ like him, but you'd be willing to try again with him?" Cramad asked inquisitively, unsure of what to make of it.

"I know it sounds weird, but I think it could work if I got him to evolve again somehow," the Bellossom explained, "we can actually get somewhere. But, like I said, with Farra still in the game, there's no chance that it'll happen. I probably wouldn't even have a chance to ask."

"Well, why don't you ask him before we all go to bed?" Cramad contrived. "That way, he'll have freedom."

"But, that's the thing, I don't really have feelings for him anymore," Annie explained. "This is just a tangent about how I'd be _willing_ to go, but the bitch Girafarig wouldn't let me get at him."

"Oooh," Cramad understood.

"Yeah, but it's okay," Annie replied. "I think I'd be better off as a single lady, anyway."

Cramad nodded in understanding. Two poor relationships would discourage her from dating as well. "Well, that's a pretty good attitude. Being independent isn't that bad of an idea and it offers you more time to grow as a woman."

Annie nodded. "Thanks."

"Well, good luck," the Parasect spoke as she started to turn away. "Now, I have to go find Titan…"

She turned around and started walking away from the Flower Pokemon, as Annie waved her off. Looking off to the side, she noticed Connor emerging from the foliage, looking around. Raising a brow, she was surprised to see Taylor emerge from the water in front of him.

 **000**

"About time you showed up!" Taylor chided, glowering down at the Bash Buffalo Pokemon. The tentative buffalo took a breath.

"Sorry," he replied. "I got a bit lost."

"How the hell did you get lost if this lake is literally a straight shot from the loser cabin?" Taylor questioned, his glare tightening.

Connor didn't reply; instead, he looked to the side. Taylor rolled his eyes; he didn't have time to berate him for being tardy, not like it mattered anyway.

"Look, we need to plan our first target," the Milotic snapped. "Do you have any ideas or suggestions?"

Connor took a while before actually responding. "No, not really. I haven't even really thought about it to be honest."

Taylor face-tailed himself. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Okay, that's fine," Taylor expressed through clenched teeth. "We'll just go for the unfaithful wife or the faggot, first."

"But… I thought that you were gay, too."

"WELL, I'M _NOT!_ " Taylor blustered, getting into the Bouffalant's face. "N-O-T, NOT! So, get that bullshit out of your puny little brain!"

Connor nodded vigorously, a frightened expression upon his face.

"CAMPERS! REPORT TO THE BEACH FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

"Crap," Taylor growled as he started slithering out of the lake. "I guess we'll have to continue this later. Come on."

The two of them had left, with Annie having overheard the entire conversation. It was wonder that she went unnoticed. But, the info she received was interesting nonetheless.

 **000**

 **Annie: Hmm, this could prove to be very beneficial to my team. With those two conspiring against their own teammates, I can threaten to tell them and get them to do whatever I want.**

 **Hey, playing nice doesn't get you that far. I've learned my lesson. Time to be strategic.**

 **000**

All of the campers reached the same area of the beach as the day prior. However, instead of the large, electricity-filled obstacle course that caused them harm, there were two catapults sitting at the edge of the shore. Both catapults looked rickety and worn out, with cranks on the side that looked ready to snap off at any given moment.

"Oh mother of Arceus, I'm having flashbacks!" Carson panicked, covering his eyes.

"Welcome to your next challenge, suckers!" Victini chirped enthusiastically as he and Mew teleported into the campers' views. None of the campers had looks of happiness on their faces, much to the Victory Pokemon's own enjoyment.

"What's with the catapults?" Sparky inquired inquisitively.

"We're just about to get into that," Victini stated irritatedly. "Keep your panties on."

"I don't even wear panties," the Luxray mumbled.

"It's a figure of speech, dumbass," Taylor remarked, rolling his eyes.

Sparky glowered at the Milotic, but decided not to dignify him with a response. His own retort was just meant to counter the psychotic host's.

"Thank you for shutting him up, Taylor," Victini thanked with a smile before turning to his co-host. "Now, Mew, please explain the challenge for these losers."

Mew rolled his eyes before taking out a piece of paper and looking over it.

"Uh… is that a script?" Lassie queried, seeing the paper in the New Species Pokemon's hands.

"Yes," Mew said, deadpanned. He cleared his throat before continuing with a drawl. "Today's challenge is an homage to season four's elimination method, combined with the tic-tac-toe challenge from last season."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Sabrina started, taking a step forward. "We had to deal with torturous, crazy bullshit… and they had to play fucking TIC-TAC-TOE?!"

"It was more complex," Mew replied. "Don't think the new guys had it easy. Lots of crazy-"

"Less reminiscing, more explaining!" Victini interrupted, shoving the paper back into the feline's face, much to his chagrin.

"Fine," Mew growled before continuing to read from the paper. "With these catapults that we stole from the stupid wannabe legendaries' island- Wait, you stole these crappy catapults from Dragonite and Tyranitar?"

"They weren't using them anyway, they'll get over it," Victini said nonchalantly. "Now keep reading and stop stopping!"

The campers exchanged looks of confusion and irritation before the explanation of the challenge continued.

"With these catapults that we stole from the stupid wannabe legendaries' island, you guys will be flinging teammates one at a time across the ocean. In the ocean, there is a large, floating, square platform with large Xs and Os sitting there. Your goal is to get three in a row faster than the other team. There will be five rounds, which means the best of three will win," Mew droned on. "If you're lucky enough to land on the platform on the first launch, good, but if you land in the water, you'll have to hurry and swim to the platform. You _are_ allowed to knock each other back and attack, but you _aren't_ allowed to take out Xs or Os that have already been placed."

"Alright, now that you all have the rules in place, let's get on with the rewards," Victini said. "Ho-Ohs, for winning the last challenge, you guys get the _right_ cannon, which is already fully calibrated to ensure that you land on the platform."

The Ho-Ohs cheered in happiness, while the Lugias glared in anger.

"Oh that's bullshit! I thought you said that they weren't going to be in every challenge!" Reta bellowed.

"They're not," Victini replied. "This just so happens to be a challenge where it _is_ going to be in effect. Plus, it's your own team's fault that you guys don't have this advantage, so don't complain. You sacrificed this in order to get rid of Macey."

The Lugias exchanged looks with each other before grumbling under their breath.

"So, Loser Lugias, you guys are left with the _left_ catapult, which isn't calibrated at all," Victini teased. "So, it's going to be a lot of trial and error for you guys if you want to have an actual chance."

"Go fuck yourself," Morgan hissed.

"I'd rather not," Victini replied. "Now, choose your first participants and let's get started!"

 **-000-**

"I call first, just to get it over with," Phill volunteered indefinitely.

"I've got no complaints," Marie said as the others on the Ho-Ohs nodded in agreement.

"I'm a bit concerned with how we're supposed to make it back here, though," Marion brought up. "They didn't mention anything about that."

"Who knows with these pricks?" Summer questioned, rolling her eyes.

"And who really cares when we have a 96 percent chance of winning this challenge!?" Freezeo cheered. "As long as the other team doesn't figure out the right calibration of the catapult, that is…"

As soon as he said that, though, his eyes happened to glance over to the Lugias, where Reta and Sally held smirks on their faces. The Crystallizing Pokemon groaned to himself.

 **-000-**

"Hey, thing one and thing two, why don't you turn your attention over here rather than the other team?" the Furret and Ampharos heard. They turned their attention back to the members of their team, who were still trying to decide who should go first.

"I say that we make the smaller Pokemon go first so that we can at least have a chance of getting close," Vixen explained.

"And I say that your plan is as dumb as you saying that you're faithful," Taylor retorted with a glare. "It doesn't fucking matter who goes first. Our catapult isn't properly adjusted!"

Vixen ignored the comment about her faithfulness. At this point, it was just redundant, but it was no longer hurting her. She made mistakes that weren't made on her own accord, but if others want to insist that she wanted all of it to happen, she wasn't going to stop their ignorance.

"Maybe we can find it out during the challenge," Sparky suggested. "If we get the right degree of measurements, we'll be at an even playing field!"

"That sounds like it could work," Ace agreed. "But what if the others don't let us see it?"

"Oh, don't worry, _we'll get it_ ," Sally said rather ominously, glancing back over at the Ho-Ohs.

 **000**

"Alright! You got your players?" Victini questioned. "If so, let's get this challenge going!"

Phill quickly hopped into the Ho-Ohs' catapult, while Shine decided to go ahead and do it for the team. Upon seeing them both in the catapults, Victini smirked.

"Ok, in three… two… one… GO!" Victini announced as he took out a button a pressed it, flinging the two of them.

 **-000-**

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Phill screamed as he landed face first on the platform with a groan.

Shine, on the other hand, floated onto the platform without a hitch. She felt the tough, foam underneath her feet and immediately shuddered. She remembered the alphabet mats that her mother bought her so that she could play with them. Needless to say, it was a very unpleasant time for her.

"Never thought I'd feel this type of material again," the Espeon said to herself. She glanced around, seeing that there were nine squares carved out, giving the appearance of a life-sized tic-tac-toe board. She didn't take too long to marvel at the floor, as there was a challenge that needed to be done. She glanced around the platform, noticing the large Xs and Os sitting on opposite corners of the large, floating platform. She quickly sprinted toward the Xs, while Phill slowly got onto his feet.

Getting a grip of one of the letters, she immediately tasted cardboard and dirt. Despite the unsettling taste of the figures, the Sun Pokemon dragged an X toward the center of the platform. The box that she placed it in glowed white, immediately.

With a nod, Shine was quickly teleported away as Phill walked over to the Os. He picked up one of the letters before running over and placing it in the top right corner. That square glowed red, and Phill was teleported off of the platform.

 **-000-**

Just as Phill was teleported back, Ace was launched for the Lugias.

"Hurry up!" Phill bellowed as Aura was thrown into the catapult by Summer due to her constant bitching while he was on the platform.

Marie pressed the button for her team's catapult, which was given to her by Victini. He also gave a button to a member of the Lugias. Aura was launched, screaming.

 **-000-**

Ace ended up landing in the water, so he had to swim to the platform. As he swam, his ribbons helping him push water back to propel himself forward, he heard a scream. Looking up, he saw Aura flying toward the platform and landing on it as he reached the ladder that was attached to the left side of the large platform.

He growled as he started climbing up the ladder. Of _course_ he was going to have to deal with this bitch.

Aura got on her feet, shaking herself off as she looked around and saw that she was the only one there at the moment. She was worried that Ace had already left, but upon seeing that there were still only two pieces in the boxes, she smiled and quickly went to the Os, seeing that that was the one glowing red.

As she sauntered over, Ace pulled himself up onto the platform with a grunt, getting Aura's attention. The shiny Glaceon smiled as the Sylveon started shaking himself dry. She started to approach him, which he noticed as he looked up.

Growling, he moved toward the Xs, seeing that she was coming in his direction from the Os. "Stay away from me, bitch."

"Aw... what's the matter?" Aura teased. "You're running from a woman, how typical."

Ace turned to face her. "Leave me… the fuck… alone," he snarled.

"You don't scare me, fag boy," Aura spat venomously, her eyes glowering. "And if you so much as lay a paw on me, I'll make sure that you _never_ see Chase, again."

Ace kept his fierce, furious glare augered on her. "You can't stop shit, bitch. You have shared custody with Chase's dad, so I'll go there _whenever_ I please!"

"We'll see about that… _fairy_ ," Aura swaggered back to the Os, and while her back was turned, Ace thought about attacking her and throwing her off, put he didn't even want to think about what she could do to make him never see Chase.

Deciding to hold in his urge, he turned his attention back to the challenge. He quickly grabbed an X and hurried to put in the bottom left corner, having not seen that Phill already blocked that opportunity. He was then promptly teleported away as he realized his mistake.

Aura grabbed an O and rushed over to the top right corner before placing it there, blocking the area. It was going to be all, but too easy for her team to gain this first victory.

 **000**

"We need to fucking figure out the right calibration!" Sola said, fiddling with the the crank on the back of the catapult, which adjusted its angle.

Aura was teleported back to the beach, with Annie inside of their team's catapult already.

"Alright, launch!" Anthony exclaimed, as Marie pressed the button, launching the Bellossom to the platform.

"Fuck! We don't have time right now!" Egridos exclaimed as he got into the catapult. "Just fire!"

Morgan, who had the button on the ground, placed a paw down upon it, causing the catapult to fling the Coffin Pokemon straight down into the water.

"FUCK!" Sola cursed as she kept trying to adjust the catapult. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

Egridos got up and started floating toward the ocean, only for Victini to call time. "And the Horrible Ho-Ohs win the first round!"

"This is bull!" Chlotz blustered. "It's obvious that they're gonna win every round because our catapult sucks!"

"And whose fault is that? Hmm?" Victini questioned rhetorically.

"You! You're the one who implemented the bullshit reward system!" Farra bellowed angrily.

Victini groaned, rolling his eyes. "Things are going to start getting harder from here, so don't complain."

"Wait, what?" Holly questioned.

"You didn't think that this'd be the set up for the entire challenge do you?" Victini chortled. "That'd be _way_ too boring."

"Wonderful…" Aspen drawled sarcastically.

 **000**

"Alright, round two…" Victini announced.

A familiar looking Hariyama wandered over to the large group holding two backpacks. Both backpacks were green, had traces of dust and what looked like blood stained on the bottoms of them. There were noticeable holes in each one, and the straps looked torn and extremely loose.

"Uh, what are those?" Striker inquired as Zahku took a place next to the two hosts.

The Arm Thrust Pokemon dropped one of the backpacks in the sand as Victini took the other one.

"These…" Victini started, unzipping the backpack in his possession. He opened it, revealing a greyish-black metallic box with a red light and twirling wires inside. "... are bombs."

"WHAT?!" majority of the campers bellowed in complete shock.

"Yep," Victini continued. "Everyone who's participating in round two has to wear this backpack with the bomb. It'll put the pressure on you to finish faster."

"But isn't finishing faster something that you _hate_?" Frosty questioned. "I mean, you always give us flack for wanting to end challenges early, but now you're _ensuring_ that we do."

"No, there's a vast difference," Victini defended, zipping the backpack back up. "You guys are usually bitchy and moaning while the challenge is actually going on when you want it to end. What I'm doing is different because there are more rounds after this one; the challenge is _continuing_. And like I said, it's gonna keep getting harder."

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: I'm afraid to ask what could be harder than being flung through the air with a bomb strapped to your back… this** _ **is**_ **Victini, after all.**

 **000**

"Now, these bombs are wired to go off in fifteen minutes," Victini explained with a cheery tone. "So, you don't have much time to dilly-dally. AND you are not allowed to take off the packs until you have finished placing a mark for your team."

"W-What if they blow up?" Klavier inquired, a bit scared at the revelation.

"If you take too long and get blown up, the other team gets a point for the round," Victini explained.

"And did you test this to see if it could be done in under that time?" Lassie queried tentatively.

"Of course not!" Victini bellowed enthusiastically.

"But, if both packs are set to blow up at the exact same time… how do we know who wins the round?" Ashton questioned with solicitude.

"We count the number of marks placed for each team. Duh…" Victini said nonchalantly. "Now, if there aren't any more questions… let's begin this challenge!"

Victini took out another remote, which resembled a black calculator with a single antenna at the top of it. "Zahku, if you'd please…"

Zahku took both backpacks and tossed one to each team. Anthony caught the Ho-Ohs', while Striker was hit by the Lugias' backpack.

"And round two begins… NOW!"

Both teams scrambled back to their respective catapults. However, Freezeo was grabbed by his chain by Sally, stopping him. Both she and Reta gave the snowflake a look of displeasure.

"So, what's the right calibration for the catapults?" Reta questioned.

"I don't know!" Freezeo replied. "Now, I need to get back before the teams suspect-"

"You go over there and see what the calibration is NOW!" Reta growled.

Freezeo groaned in annoyance, wanting to just get back to his team. The glares from the girls were eating at him, however, finally breaking him. "Fine, but you stay here and just… uh… act natural!"

The girls exchanged looks, staying in the same spot.

 **-000-**

The Cryogonal floated back over to his team, which was preparing for the next person who'd have to take the flight once Dhaunt got back. Freezeo went to the catapult to gaze at the mechanisms that set the trajectory in order to report it to his alliance partners.

He saw that the dial sitting underneath the crank read 75.86. This action didn't go unnoticed, however.

"Freezeo, what the hell are you doing?" Sabrina asked, eyeing the Crystallizing Pokemon suspiciously. Her sudden outburst got the attention of the others, who watched as the Cryogonal floated back up at his normal level.

"I wasn't doing anything. I was just looking at the calibration," Freezeo responded, trying his best to hold his composure.

"Uh… Why?" Luna questioned.

"I'm just curious! Geez," Freezeo bellowed. "You're acting like I'm working for the other team or something. Which I'm _totally_ not."

"Okay, you're either lying or you're just an idiot," Summer remarked, folding her arms. "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, though, and just-"

"GUYS!" Dhaunt bellowed, having been standing around for twenty seconds. "Someone else needs to go!"

"I'll go next," Lassie said as she took the decrepit, bomb-filled backpack from the Gengar and hopped into the catapult.

Marie pressed the button, launching her, as Freezeo took this opportunity to make it back to Reta and Sally, which again, didn't go unnoticed. Sabrina noticed the snowflake talking to the Ferret and Ampharos and glowered, still suspicious of his actions.

 **-000-**

"75.86…" Freezeo drawled. "You happy now? My team is totally suspicious of me."

"Oh please, they'll get over it," Reta spoke, waving away his concerns. "And thanks…"

The two of them quickly went back over to their team, while Freezeo groaned. He suddenly felt a presence behind him and slowly turned to see Sabrina glaring daggers at him. "H-Hi…"

 **000**

 **Sabrina: If we lose this challenge, I will personally shove that backstabbing bastard into the tube!**

 **000**

Lassie, after being launched, started to float to the platform to avoid a harsh landing. As she made it to the large, floating platform, she heard a _SPLASH_ , and looked over the edge to see Sola swimming quickly towards it.

The Froslass quickly used Icy Wind on the edges of the platform so that it was slippery and cold. She looked at the oversized, foam tic-tac-toe board and identified that her team was the Xs due to that mark glowing red. The first X was placed in the middle right section, as there was an O already in the center. She picked up one of the Xs and placed it in the top right corner. Once the second X illuminated red, she was teleported away.

Sola, who was panting as she climbed up the ladder on the side, was starting to feel winded. Upon making it to the top, she immediately felt something cold under her paws. It didn't hinder her, however, and she pulled herself up. She gazed at the 'board' carved into the foam below her, and seeing which letter she was, placed an O on the bottom right. Blocking the Ho-Ohs, while also giving her team a set up for a victory.

However, just as the box her O was placed in turned white, Brian landed on the platform with a _THUD_. Sola was teleported off of the platform.

 **-000-**

When the Absol returned to the beach, saw that Chlotz was being tossed into the catapult bucket.

"You're seriously making _Chlotz_ do it?!" Ace bellowed. "He's a total klutz! No offense, dude."

"None taken," Chlotz groaned. "And I'll try to do my be-"

"Hello?! BOMB!?" Reta exclaimed. "We don't have to for idleness and conversation! I adjusted the trajectory for the catapult and it should be fine now, so give him the backpack!"

"Didn't you just hear Ace?! He's a klutz!" Farra restated. "If he's a klutz, don't you think-"

"Hush!" Reta exclaimed. "I'm the reason we actually made progress last challenge, and this challenge it's going to happen again, so just do what I say!"

"Uh, I'm sorry, but who put _you_ in charge?" Morgan inquired with a glare.

"I just did," Reta replied, walking over to her. "Now launch!" she said, stomping on the button, which launched the klutz away.

 **-000-**

Chlotz landed face first on the platform, where Brian was still attempting to figure out where he could place an X to guarantee a victory. All he'd have to do was place it in the top right corner and his team would win, but being who he was, he was overthinking it.

Chlotz slowly got onto his feet, seeing that Brian was just floating idle with an X in his hand. Seeing this, he took the opportunity to hurry over to the Os.

"Hmm… I suppose that I can place it here…" the Reuniclus finally decided, placing the X in the top left corner, blocking the Lugias' possible victory as Chlotz attempted to rush over. The Shiftry tripped, though, dropping an O in the top middle section, luckily blocking the Ho-Ohs.

He was teleported off of the platform shortly after.

 **000**

Just as he got back, he saw that Marion was being launched. "Crap!" he bellowed as he tried to quickly take off the backpack, the straps getting stuck on his round shoulders. "Help me!"

Sally hurried over, taking the backpack off of the Shiftry's back before putting in on her own.

"No, Sally! We need someone else-"

"AND… it's a cat's game!" Victini announced, watching the overhead footage of the tic-tac-toe platform.

"It's a what?" Klavier inquired.

"A cat's game is a tie in tic-tac-toe," Mew explained smoothly. "That means that round two is likely going to continue until someone wins…"

"Which means… we're gonna need new backpacks!" Victini chirped, much to the chagrin of the contestants.

"But the backpacks we've got haven't even exploded yet," Striker spoke up.

"Oh, right…" Victini pulled out a remote, which upon sight, made both Sally and Marion remove the bags on their backs and toss them away. Both bags exploded in midair, much to the relief of the contestants and the chagrin of Victini.

Seeing that no one got injured, Victini groaned. "Shaymin was right, I _should_ have included metal straps," he mumbled. "Alright, Zahku."

The Hariyama, who had been building a sandcastle nearby, heard his name called and immediately rose to his feet. He headed over to the two hosts and the competitors with his same nonchalant expression.

"What Victini need now?" he inquired.

"We need two more backpack bombs," the fox explained. "These losers got a cat's game, so we gotta do this round again."

"Wait, what happened to the rule where you mention that the team with more marks would win?" Holly inquired. "There are nine sections in a tic-tac-toe game, so it'll always be uneven."

"That was only for if the bombs exploded during the round, which they didn't," Victini explained.

"But that's because you stopped us with this 'cat's game' bullshit," Cano chimed in.

"It's not bullshit. It's part of the game," Victini retorted. "Now hush, puppy."

Cano glowered at him, teeth bared.

"So, Zahku, go ahead and grab us a couple more bombs," Victini instructed the fighting-type. Zahku nodded before leaping high into the air, disappearing from everybody's sight. This phenomenon startled the contestants, who were gaping in shock.

"Yeah… try not to think about it so much," Mew insisted. "Just be lucky that you a small break. Better use this time wisely."

Immediately, the campers exchanged looks of competitiveness before heading back to their own catapults. Not even ten seconds later, Zahku returned with two more backpacks.

"Alright!" Victini announced, getting everyone's attention back immediately. Everyone's eyes widened upon seeing Zahku back already. "Round two, part two. Begin!"

"Wait, when the hell did he get back!?" Farra exclaimed.

"No questions!" Victini bellowed, tossing each team a backpack bomb once again. "Take the packs and get back to tic-tac-toe…"

 **000**

"I hate this challenge so much…" Kojo groaned as he put on the backpack. "Why am I the one going this time again?"

"Don't complain, Kojo, we're _all_ probably going to have to go through shit," Morgan chided.

"And some of us already _have_ ," Chlotz added, folding his arms.

With a sigh, the Mienshao started climbing into the catapult, not wanting to argue further. At least he'd get his turn over with and not be the one who gets blown up. He'd have mentioned it, but hey, it benefits himself more.

Morgan pressed the button, firing him to the platform.

 **-000-**

Kojo screamed as he soared through the air, eyeing the platform as it got closer and closer. Eventually, he landed on the hardy foam and groaned in pain upon impact. "Arceus, I hate my life," he groaned as he lie on his back.

It took him a few seconds, but he eventually sat up and got back onto his feet. Not too long after doing so, he heard a faint screaming sound. He turned around to see a yellow dot slowly get bigger before finally landing on the platform.

Summer was the one who landed on the platform, much to the Mienshao's surprise. He went over to help her up, bringing a small smile to the badger's face.

"So, was this coincidence or did you volunteer after seeing me go?" Kojo questioned, folding his arms playfully.

Summer scoffed. "Please," she replied, rolling her eyes playfully. "This was pure convenience. I'm here for the challenge."

She went to the Xs, and, due to their new relationship, Kojo decided to toy with her a bit. He moved towards her until he directly behind her, wrapping his paws around her waist. Summer, feeling the sudden contact, flushed in embarrassment. "Or _are_ you?" he whispered to her, causing her to shudder.

She growled inwardly before gaining a devious smirk. If he wanted to play that game, she'd play it right back. She picked up one of the Xs and started walking to the board, with the mustelid still holding on to her.

"You're not stopping me. And you're really wasting time, especially with that bomb on your back…" Summer teased. "Is blowing your load worth being blown up?"

Kojo, upon hearing that and eyeing the straps on his shoulders, immediately released the Typhlosion as she winked. Kojo shook his head with a chuckle as he went over to the Os. However, he couldn't help but still feel Summer's presence. He suddenly felt a pair of fingers start 'walking' up the center of his back, making _him_ shudder this time. He picked up one of the Os when he suddenly felt Summer planting kisses on his neck and shoulders.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he queried. "Shouldn't you be trying to hurry back to your team? This _is_ still a challenge…"

"Yeah, but I'm sure they'll be fine with me having some _fun_ ~," she teased as she reached around his front, causing him to freeze and drop the O.

Getting this reaction, Summer giggled as she got back focused and released him. She picked up her X and tossed it in the center. She was teleported away promptly.

Kojo grinned to himself as he picked up the same O and placed it above the X.

 **000**

 **Kojo: Just started dating and she's already grabbing my junk. Hell, it's more action that I ever got from Zella. But, I started it, though, and I'm gonna finish it.**

 **000**

Kojo was teleported back and met with annoyed glares from his teammates. He understood why and chose to just stay silent as he quickly removed the backpack.

"What the hell took you so long!?" Taylor blustered. "You just wasted almost four minutes!"

Kojo, in response, threw the backpack at the Milotic, hitting him in the face.

"OW!" Taylor bellowed in pain before glowering at him.

"Taylor rose a valid point. What _did_ take you so long?" Sola inquired.

Kojo turned to her. "Did you _not_ see who they launched for their team?" he questioned brashly, pointing to the other team, where Summer was removing the bag and handing it to Anthony. "I was lucky that I was allowed to stay conscious!"

"You're a fighting-type. That's no excuse!" Egridos retorted.

"Oh yes, fight a woman, that's perfectly fine-"

"SHUT IT!" Reta bellowed, getting their attention focused back on the challenge. "You guys are wasting time! We need to win this round so that we aren't in the bottom!"

"Then why don't _you_ go already and stop yelling at everyone!?" Farra exclaimed.

" _I'm_ the one who's actually keeping the team in check right now!" Reta retorted. "None of you are stepping up, so I'm the one who has to."

"No one asked you to!" Vixen spoke abrasively. "You're suddenly just acting like you're the only one on the team who actually does work!"

"Because none of you can ever make up your damn minds!" Reta retorted. "I had to choose the players for the last challenge and this challenge, you guys are just conversing like this doesn-"

"Uh… I hate to interrupt this _wonderful_ conversation, but we're LOSING TIME!" Chlotz bellowed as he picked up the backpack. "I'll go again, just so we don't fucking-"

"AND THE HO-OHS TAKE ROUND TWO!" the team suddenly heard. They turned to the hosts in complete surprise.

"WHAT!?" they all bellowed in utter shock.

"Yep, you guys wasted so much time arguing that the Ho-Ohs were able to launch Anthony and Luna with no possible hindrance," Victini laughed. "So now, it's two rounds to zilch. One more and the Ho-Ohs claim victory."

"And the Lugias head to their third elimination in a row," Mew finished with his same deadpan tone.

"That is NOT going to happen!" Morgan growled.

"With the way you guys work together, I highly doubt it!" Anthony teased with a cocky grin.

"You'll see, cannon boy!" Taylor seethed.

"I love the tension…" Victini commented. "Now, onto round three. But first…"

The Victory Pokemon took out the button that was seen previously and swiftly pressed it before the competitors could react. Because both teams were still standing around them, he got the effect that he wanted the first time. Two simultaneous explosions occurred, accompanied by numerous yells of pain.

"Ah...much better," Victini sighed.

 **000**

"Okay, round three," Victini said as Zahku placed numerous buckets of large tacks next to each catapult.

"Uh...what's with the tacks?" Phill queried as Zahku began heading back toward them.

"Well, your next hindrance is… tacks and isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol," Victini revealed, causing a few competitors to gape in shock.

"Uh… do you mind explaining what the purpose of that is?" Summer questioned, hiding the nervousness in her voice, despite having gone already.

"There is now a large vat of isopropyl alcohol outlining the outside of the main tic-tac-toe board," Victini explained. "And in addition, the stinging fluid has been dyed black, making the markers difficult to find."

Mew finally spoke up, as Victini was taking too long, savoring every reaction the campers developed. "Basically, every time one of your teammates go, you have to dump an entire bucket of tacks into the catapult bucket before they get in and you can't be gentle, you have to literally just hop in. That way, the wounds that you get will hurt a crap ton when you have to get into the vats to get the Xs and Os.'

"Way to ruin the fun," Victini drawled, giving the feline a look.

"You were going to take too long," Mew replied. "I prefer to just get this crap over with."

"Whatever," Victini replied, rolling his eyes. "Since melancholic Mew ruined the fun, you guys go ahead and begin."

"So, we go from adding on the pressure with a bomb… to just pure pain?" Aura questioned.

"I said that it was going to get tougher," Victini replied. "Now, GO!"

 **000**

"Alright, so… we have no rock-types or steel-types," Klavier spoke up, looking around.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aspen queried.

"If we had a rock-type or steel-type on our team, they'd barely feel anything and we'd be done in an instant once again," Sabrina explained.

"If _only_ we had kept in Clay," Titan said sarcastically.

"Hey, we had no way of knowing the possibly murderous psycho would be useful at some point!" Aura retorted.

"Guys, we're turning into the other team right now. Let's _not_ argue, and just go for this," Lassie commented. "Dhaunt, Marion, and I are ghost-types, so we'll be fine!"

"Can't argue with that logic," Marie commented. "Dhaunt, you're up first!"

"Fuuuuuuuck me," he groaned.

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: They couldn't fucking implement an 'at least each player has to go once' rule?!**

 **000**

"Amethyst, you're the only rock-type we have!" Reta blustered to the frightened fossil Pokemon, who was hiding behind Ashton.

"Reta, I don't think you're helping the situation," Ashton commented. "She's not comfortable with things like this."

"That's not an excuse. _None_ of us are comfortable with this bullshit, but she's a rock-type, meaning that she'll barely feel anything!" Reta exclaimed. "She's one of the only chances we have to not get hurt!"

"And we have Carson, who is a _steel_ -type," Holly interrupted, taking up for Amethyst. "He definitely won't feel anything! Rocks can still be penetrated! Plus, Carson's a psychic-type, too!"

"Yeah! He'll be perfect for this!" Ace cheered.

"Whaddya say Carson?" Holly asked.

"He doesn't get a say, just go!" Reta exclaimed. "We're wasting time again!"

Sally dumped the bucket of tacks into the catapult bucket as Carson floated over and dropped inside.

"Well, this is uncomfortable," he commented.

"I bet it is…" Sparky replied just before Morgan launched the bell.

 **-000-**

Carson floated safely to the platform, avoiding the pitch black alcohol. He tried to get a sense of where the Xs and Os were located. He started floating around the vat, before seeing a Gengar floating toward the platform.

With a gasp, the Bronzong quickly used his kinesis to search through the alcohol as the Shadow Pokemon grew closer. Eventually, he found an O and tossed it in the board, with it landing in the box that was to the left of the center.

The steel- and psychic-type was teleported away quickly just as Dhaunt approached, holding his head from the whiplash of the catapult. He arrived at the platform and sighed up seeing the black fluid.

"This looks so much like tar," he remarked. "Good thing I know that it's not."

He looked at the board and saw that an 'O' was already in place, meaning that his team was going to need Xs. He floated down face first into the alcohol and started feeling around, unfazed by the liquid. Eventually, he pulled out a letter, but it turned out being another 'O', which he promptly tossed away.

He proceeded with his search before eventually hearing another voice. Lifting back up, he saw Carson searching again, with a rather irritated look on his face.

Dhaunt, after a while of searching, finally pulled out an X. However, he came up with an idea that'd surely put his team ahead.

After placing the first X to the side, he started searching for the remaining others. Carson was splashing the alcohol out of the vat with his kinesis, eventually pulling out yet another 'O'. With a sigh, he floated to the board and dropped the O in the center.

He was then teleported away again, leaving Dhaunt to continue his search.

 **-000-**

"I'm not going again," Carson immediately spoke once he was brought back to the beach.

"You're right, you're not," Victini said, floating over. "No more sending the same players over and over. This needs to be an EQUAL amount of pain. And there are a good majority of you who have felt _nothing_. So, either choose someone else or risk going to elimination again by _my_ terms."

"Ugh, fine," Morgan groaned. " I'll go."

"Perfect," Victini said. "Carry on," he said, floating back to the screen.

Morgan scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Typical…"

 **000**

 **Morgan: I've did some training with Lila, Ally, and Mystic, as well as a bit of yoga. It's all mind over matter. If I don't think about the pain, it doesn't exist…**

 **000**

Kojo dumped the tacks into the catapult bucket. Morgan hopped inside and immediately froze, twitching.

 **000**

 **Morgan: Okay, I take back what I said. That. Fucking. SUCKED!**

 **000**

"FUCK!" the Persian shouted, lifting her scarred and bleeding paws and underside.

Reta pressed the button, launching her off just as Dhaunt returned for the Ho-Ohs.

 **-000-**

"What the hell took you so long, dude?!" Freezeo queried inquisitively.

"I went ahead and pulled out all of the Xs for us, so you guys may want to hurry and-"

"And as for _your_ team," Victini spoke, floating over.

"Oh come on, what did _we_ do?" Fez asked vexedly.

"The other team isn't allowed to use the same player over and over, and since you guys are doing something similar, I'm bringing the same rule over here," Victini explained.

"But, Dhaunt's not about to go again!" Rapid spoke up.

"True, but having an all ghost-type setup is lame, so no using the same player numerous times and no using the same _type_ of player in succession…" Victini finally stated before floating back to his monitor.

"Great. That bastard just probably cost us this round by stopping us," Sabrina growled.

"How the hell are the Lugias doing so well all of a sudden anyway!?" Klavier questioned. "I thought their catapult wasn't calibrated…"

Sabrina glared daggers at Freezeo, who started whistling. Sabrina would have told them all, but that'd waste more time. If they lost, _then_ she'd tell.

"Well I'm not sure, but something needs to be done about it," Brian commented. "Something... _evil."_

"Uh...I could just disappear, float over, and screw up the calibration on their catapult," Lassie expounded.

"Okay good, that sounds like it'd work fine," Aura replied with a smirk.

"Quick! Someone go, Morgan just got back!" Luna commented, watching the other team.

"Fez!" Sabrina called.

"What!?"

Marie poured the tacks into the catapult bucket and Sabrina slammed the Unfezant into the catapult. Seconds later, he was flung.

 **000**

 **Fez: WHAT THE HECK!?**

 **000**

 **Sabrina: After this morning, I just** _ **had**_ **to do that. The nerve of that bastard…**

 **000**

Fez let the catapult carry him for a good while, the pain from the tacks embedded in his back and wings hindering his flight. He eventually landed in the alcohol, hitting his head on the edge of the vat upon entry. He screamed while underneath the surface, rising up upon tasting and feeling the alcohol seep into his wounds and down his esophagus.

"Fuck me…" he groaned hoarsely as he attempted to climb out of the vat. He flopped onto the ground just as he heard another scream and Sally landed in the alcohol as well, splashing more of the burning fluid on the downed avian.

He groaned, unable to move due to the pain he was feeling, and just closed his eyes to rest and let the pain subside. On the other hand, Sally swiftly pulled herself out of the vat, shaking as she slowly got onto her feet. Her head was throbbing from being launched and the sudden impact into the vat. She was coughing and feeling painful burns on her back and butt as she took a seat against the outside of the vat, trying to recompose herself.

She opened her eyes and saw Fez lying motionless on the other side, three Xs already out beside him. She then looked to the board and saw that her team just needed an 'O' in the bottom left corner to win this round. Despite the intense head pain and burning in her lower regions she was feeling, she slowly rose to her feet to try and find the final 'O'.

She reached inside of the vat, her headache causing her to stop occasionally, and started feeling around for any Os.

Fez, slowly opening his eyes, saw that Sally was back up searching, and sighed to himself. He recalled what Dhaunt claimed to have done and peered around, eventually seeing the Xs nearby; nearby meaning that they were next to his legs.

With the pain subsiding from the tack wounds and alcohol, he slowly got back to his feet. Sally eventually found another O for her team just as Fez picked up an X. She quickly rushed over, only for Fez to throw the X in the bottom left corner.

She froze as the bird disappeared. After a while, she sighed and gazed at the board again before her eyes widened.

 **000**

"Alright, you're welcome," Fez said dizzily before collapsing in the sand. "I blocked them."

"Good," Sabrina commented with a glare as she hopped into the catapult bowl, which had already been prepared. "Hurry up before the other one gets back!"

Marie nodded and launched the Staraptor, who took flight upon being launched. Just as she left, Sally came back with a confident smile on her face, despite the head pain she still felt.

"What's with the smile?" Shine asked, gaining a smile of her own.

"Did they already launch someone else?" Sally questioned.

"They just launched Sabrina," Farra answered.

"Well, someone else needs _right now_ ," Sally urged. "I've set up two ways for us to win."

"Wait, you what?!" Taylor bellowed in surprise.

"We've got two boxes that we can win with, so hurry up before they block them both!" Sally exclaimed.

Sparky hopped into the catapult bowl, which was filled with the tacks already, and Morgan pressed the button to launch him.

 **-000-**

Sabrina, having landed outside of the vat, eyed in shock at the situation presented before her.

"Fuck my life…" she growled. She saw that the Lugias had two squares where the Lugias could win, the bottom middle and the top left.

She suddenly heard a yell and gained an idea. Mew said that they were allowed to knock others off, so she decided to take advantage of that.

She took flight and prepared to attack whoever was coming. Sparky prepared to land in a vat of alcohol, and was surprised to see Sabrina sticking her talons out, ready to attack.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, using Thunderbolt. The volts of electricity struck the Staraptor, causing her to yell out in pain before falling toward the water. The Luxray landed in the alcohol, yelling out due to the burning in his paws. He ended up pulling out an 'O' and hopping out of the vat.

He eyed the board, noticing the two possible goals. He dropped the 'O' in the bottom middle box before being teleported back.

"AND THE LUGIAS WIN A ROUND FOR ONCE! Victini bellowed with a smile.

The Lugias cheered in glee, while the Ho-Ohs rolled their eyes.

"Now, time for round four," Victini said with a smile, causing everyone to groan in annoyance.

 **000**

Once everything from the previous round was cleaned up and removed, everyone focused back on the hosts, who were next to a pale tarp that was seen covering something. Victini was smiling, while Mew held an indifferent expression.

"What can be worse than tacks and alcohol?!" Striker exclaimed. "Like, seriously?!"

"You're gonna wish that you didn't ask that," Mew commented.

Victini took hold of the decrepit, bland tarp, yanking it off to reveal the contents. What were revealed were two large, wooden crates. Victini hit the tops of both, causing the front parts to open. Numerous green, ovular objects spilled out onto the ground, and were easily recognizable by the cast.

"GRENADES!?" Titan exclaimed in shock. "Crikey mate, you're totally off your rocker!"

"Why thank you, Steve Irwin…" Victini mocked.

Titan glared due to the insult.

"Now, each team must nominate one player," Victini explained. "That player will be responsible for chucking grenades toward players of the opposite team to hinder them."

"WHAT?!" Marie exclaimed, they'll destroy the catapults!"

"Maybe," Victini said with a shrug. "It'll be up to the player on the other team and how good they aim. And you _can't_ choose players that are psychic- or ghost-types."

Everyone groaned in annoyance and displeasure, knowing that the grenades were going to be awful and agitating.

"How the hell do you expect one of our teams to win if you destroy the catapults?!" Chlotz exclaimed. "Plus, they're not even yours!"

"By the number of Xs or Os that are placed," Victini replied, as if it was an idiotic question. "Now, pick your players and let's get this on!"

"Hold on…" Marion interrupted.

"Now what?"

"What if _they_ win, but the catapults are destroyed?" she asked.

"The number of Xs or Os, Arceus, is it _that_ hard to comprehend?" Victini repeated. "Now, choose!"

 **-000-**

"I'll do it," Anthony said. "I've got pretty decent range and it'll be fun to just lob grenades at the fuckers."

"Eh, we just need to win once more," Phill said. "Why not?"

"Yeah, plus I'll just mess up their catapult again," Lassie said.

The Ho-Ohs all nodded in agreement.

 **-000-**

"Okay, so we can't use any psychic- or ghost-type capabilities, so that excludes a good amount of us, and most of us walk on all fours, so sitting and throwing won't be that successful…" Farra acknowledged.

"We could use Ace," Striker brought up. "He has those ribbons, so that could work well enough."

"Well, yeah, but I don't know how good of an aim I'll have or what our radius will be," the Sylveon replied.

"You'll do it and you'll like it!" Reta spoke.

"I swear, you need to just shut your fucking mouth!" Taylor growled. "You aren't hot shit!"

"And neither are you…" Reta retorted. "Now, fuck you!"

 **000**

"Alright, who do we have tossing for each team?" Victini asked as everyone came back together. The Ho-Ohs exchanged confident glances, while the Lugias held agitated expressions.

Anthony stepped forward for the Ho-Ohs, folding his arms. Seeing this, Ace was a tad bit hesitant, but took a breath before stepping forward for the Lugias.

"Hmm… interesting, I suppose," Victini commented. "Not bad, but also not great."

"Well _you_ should've chose for us, then," Cramad commented.

"No thanks," Victini replied. "Now, you two, stay here with me, the rest of you, get back to your catapults and I'll let you know when to begin…"

Both teams exchanged competitive glares before going back to their own catapults. Ace and Anthony watched their teams return to their places before turning back to the sadistic Victory Pokemon.

"Now, as you both know, you'll be flinging grenades at the opposing team, and you'll have to do it from back here," Victini said as a quick, flaming line appeared on the ground behind both guys.

They turned around swiftly, feeling sudden heat on their heels. They looked down and saw a line of glass in the sand.

"So, do we get anything special for doing this?" Anthony questioned, folding his arms. Ace's head turned in interest.

"Of course," Victini replied cheerily. "You get to contribute in your team's win or loss!"

Both guys gave the host unamused expressions; they really should have expected that from him.

"You guys have fun now, because the challenge begins in three...two...one...GO!"

The two of them started throwing the grenades, while the others started launching teammates.

 **000**

"These fucking douchebags always come up with stupid challenges that make no sense," Summer commented, folding her arms after the team launched Rapid. "What correlation do grenades have with tic-tac-toe?!"

"We're using _catapults_ to launch people to a far away platform, where they have to place large versions of Xs and Os in a grid, and you're worried about the _grenades'_ correlation?" Aura questioned.

"Incoming!" Freezeo bellowed as he saw numerous grenades start flying in their direction.

"Just freeze them," Annie said with a bored tone. "Victini didn't say we couldn't stop the grenades from hurting us."

"That's true!" Luna barked. "Freezeo, do it!"

Freezeo nodded, using Ice Beam to freeze the incoming grenades. Lassie reappeared next to Marion with a smile. "Mission accomplished…" she announced.

"Great!" Marie said with a smirk. "Let's see how well they do _now_ …"

 **-000-**

Vixen and Shine were acting as the protectors of their team, using their psychic abilities to create both create a protective forcefield, and also change the directions of the grenades so that they went toward the Ho-Ohs, who were still only relying on Freeze and Lassie, when she came back, at the moment.

No explosions were happening, which was annoying Victini. This round was supposed to be painful and wretched for them, not normal. Mew was watching the footage on the platform, Rapid had just placed an 'X' in the center of the 3x3 grid, while Holly was just placing an 'O' on the top right corner.

As he teleported them back to the beach, Victini floated back to the beachfront due to the humdrum of the round so far.

"Alright, stop _stop!_ " Victini exclaimed, getting everyone's attention.

"Ugh… what now?!" Pia questioned, folding her arms, actually showing interest in the situation they were in.

" _This_ isn't going to work," the fox stated, gesturing to the entire beachfront. "No protection. You're gonna be in pain and you're going to like it."

"What is your fascination in wanting us to get fucking hurt?!" Shine yipped aggravatedly.

"Because reasons!" Victini replied agitatedly.

"Gee, that _sure_ is specific…" Vixen replied, rolling her eyes

"Now, I don't wanna see any more protection. The viewers want to see you in pain, so give them what they want!" Victini bellowed as the cast gave him agitated glowers. "Challenge continue."

 **000**

"I hate this fucking show so much…" Luna growled as numerous grenades started heading their way.

The explosions were reaching the catapult, so a good majority of the Ho-Ohs just resorted to body blocking, taking the brunt of the explosions. Pia had gone for the team,so they were stuck taking the pain of the explosions until she got back.

 **-000-**

"What the fuck is up with the catapult?!" Kojo exclaimed as he started banging on it a bit. "It was just working a second ago!"

"Check the calibration! AH!" Frosty bellowed as another grenade came over and blew up in his face.

Reta went to the crank and checked it, noticing that it was actually _broken_.

"What the… the crank's broken!" she exclaimed, getting the attention of the others as the grenades continued flying over and blowing up.

"What the hell happened?!" Morgan exclaimed. "How did it break if we launched Holly literally minutes ago?!"

Taylor huffed before looking over to the Ho-Ohs and seeing a few smiles on their faces, despite the numerous grenades being lobbed at them and blowing them up.

"Those bastards sabotaged us!" Taylor exclaimed, causing the rest of the team to gape in shock.

"How do you know?" Connor questioned.

"They're fucking smiling and our catapult's practically brok-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled as a grenade blew up at his base.

"We've gotta do something! Pia just got back!" Sally exclaimed.

"Well, what the hell can we do if we have no way to launch anyone?!" Farra bellowed. "Our catapult isn't calibrated correctly anymore because of those jackasses!"

"Fuck it, we have psychic-types. Teleport them there!" Egridos suggested as he flew up to dodge a grenade to the face.

"They're launching Cano now, hurry!"

"NO TELEPORTING! ONLY LAUNCHING!"

"FUCK YOU, VICTINI!"

"Okay, then THROW someone using the kinesis bullshit psychic-types can do!" Egridos exclaimed.

"We're doomed…" Frosty commented as more explosions occurred on the beach.

"AND THE HO-OHS WIN AGAIN!"

"Of course they do, they fucked with our catapult!" Taylor growled.

"Too bad, so sad!" Fez teased.

The Lugias glared angrily at their opponents.

"Lugias… looks like you guys are heading to your third elimination in a row!" Victini announced.

The team exchanged looks.

 **000**

A fair amount of players from the Lugias met up at a different part of the island's beach. Among the group was Farra, Striker, Frosty, Ace, Shine, Vixen, Morgan, Sola, and Sparky.

"Okay, I think it's pretty obvious who we need to lose this time," Morgan started.

"Uh… who?" asked Striker, feeling a different way.

"Farra! Duh!" Morgan exclaimed. "Didn't you see how she was acting throughout today's challenge!?"

"Well yeah, but I don't see how her trying to be a leader and helping caused any real issues," Striker explained. "I mean, I agree that she was rude and arrogant, but she still helped get some things done."

"And we still lost," Ace chimed in. "So that didn't do much of anything, did it?"

"Well, even if she _was_ annoying, she's doing way more than Connor," Striker replied. "We need to think about usability and who is and isn't helping the team…"

"Connor's a big boy. He can help with plenty down the line. And honestly, I prefer him over Reta," Shine commented.

"Yeah, plus Reta didn't do much of anything either except boss everyone around," Sparky added.

"She's the one who got the catapult configured!" Frosty explained.

"And that was shortly after she and Sally got done talking to Freezeo," Sola said, having noticed their interaction. "So either they're working with the other team so that they win certain challenges and we win certain challenges, or they're doing something else."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Frosty asked. "We'd be getting intel from the other team!"

"Working with the enemy is _never_ a good thing," Morgan emphasized. "Plus, he could lie to them and they could be giving him some of _our_ intel in return!"

"Well, that's true…"

"Plus, if you think about, other than running her yap, what could Reta possibly have to offer?" asked Vixen questioned.

"Good ideas…"

The others stared at the two of them, even Farra held a look of unamusement.

"Okay, so Reta's gone," Sola finally said.

They all nodded in agreement, excluding Striker and Frosty, who exchanged looks.

 **000**

"Alright, I know that I said that we could go for the unfaithful wife… but I feel like someone else is _much_ more deserving after today's shitty performance," Taylor commented, as he and Connor returned to the lake.

"Reta?" Connor said inquisitively.

"Exactly," Taylor replied. "We can boot the whore if we lose the next challenge. Tonight… the annoying wannabe leader is gone."

Connor smiled sheepishly before sighing. "LOSER LUGIAS! YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO, IT'S TIME FOR ELIMINATION!"

"Of course it is…" Taylor mumbled, rolling his eyes as he turned around and started slithering to the bonfire area, with Connor following.

 **000**

All of the Lugias returned to the bonfire area for their third elimination ceremony. Needless to say, they were all extremely peeved.

"Welcome to your third elimination ceremony, Losers," Victini greeted. "You should know the drill by now, so I'm not even gonna bother explaining."

 **000**

 **Egridos: Reta was annoying, and coming from** _ **me,**_ **that's a bad sign.**

 **000**

 **Kojo: I just voted for Reta.**

 **000**

 **Reta: Sally, Chlotz, and I are voting for Amethyst. She's so useless it's not funny.**

 **000**

 **Holly: Reta was kinda rude today, so I guess she has to go…**

 **000**

 **Sally: *sighs* I tried to warn her about being all high and mighty. She didn't want to listen…**

 **000**

"Alright, the votes have been tallied, and tonight, with fifteen votes, Reta is _out_!"

"WHAT?!" the Furret bellowed in surprise. She rose up and turned to her team. "You morons are making a huge mistake! _I_ was the one keeping the team in check and organizing everything!"

"And guess what, bitch? We still ended up losing," Taylor replied with a glare.

"Plus, your attitude about it all was complete shit!" Shine added,

Reta scoffed. "Wimps. You guys can talk shit about each other, argue, deal with love drama, and all of that, but you can't handle someone giving you instruction? Pathetic…"

"No, what's pathetic is that you went from a neutral chick that nobody cared about to a whiny, overbearing bitch on wheels in the span of _four fucking challenges_ ," Egridos remarked. "If you'd have kept your mouth shut, you'd have probably made it further than this."

"Whatever," Reta waved away. "I try to help and give a dysfunctional team direction, and this is how I'm repaid…"

"Yeah, and you know what's ironic?" Taylor asked rhetorically. "Your bullshit actually caused us to come together in agreement for once…"

"Fuck you!"

"Alright Reta, it's time for you to go…" Victini said.

"Wait, can I at least say goodbye to Rapi-"

"Nope!" Victini chirped. "Zahku!"

The Hariyama dropped from the sky, causing a miniature tremor to shake the island. He turned to the hosts. "Yes?"

"Please 'escort' Reta to the Suck of Shame," Victini instructed.

Nodding, Zahku faced the Furret, who paled. She was picked up and carried to the elimination device, flailing in the Hariyama's grasp the entire time.

"You're all dismissed," Mew said, allowing the Lugias to leave. As they left, he headed to the dock.

 **000**

"Alright Reta, you failed as a leader, so now, you get to suck…" Victini said as Zahku held her over the vacuum tube.

Reta groaned. "You're not funny…"

"Of course I am…" Victini replied. "Zahku…"

Zahku dropped her, and she screamed as she was suctioned through the tube. "Okay," the Hariyama started. "What Victini want me to do with catapults?"

He gestured to the catapults in the distance, and Victini gained a smile. "We're gonna send them back to the wannabes, of course. But… with a extra little surprise," he explained, teleporting two bomb backpacks into his grasp.

Both Victini and Zahku teleported away, leaving Mew. The pink feline groaned.

"Who will win next time? What challenge will Victini put them through? Who will lose? Find out next time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs…" he drawled. "I'm going to bed…"

 **000**

 **And Reta is now gone. You should've seen that coming. Fez...just stop. Annie has some intel, I wonder for what or when she'll use it. Summer x Kojo is now official, albeit things are still gonna be a bit slow for them. And uh...yeah, I don't think Dragonite or Tyranitar are going to appreciate Victini's actions. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Reta: Review...I guess.**


	6. Blown Back Mountain

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs...the contestants endured harsh conditions as they had to launch each other across the ocean and onto a huge tic-tac-toe platform. Annie overheard Connor and Taylor's planning, giving her an easy way to eliminate them from their team. Fez tried to get Sabrina back, but failed miserably. And Summer and Kojo finally hooked up, yawn. In the challenge, the competitors hated every second of it. From bomb, to grenades, to rubbing alcohol and...tacks...yeah, they're truly scraping from the bottom of the barrel. In the end, as if foreshadowed much earlier, Reta ended up taking a ride on the Suck of Shame.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

The following day, Chlotz, Sally, Freezeo, Pia, and Rapid gathered at their usual meeting place. Rapid was very upset about the results of the Lugias' elimination; he felt that it was very unfair. He was currently lying flat on the ground in a deep melancholy.

The others knew why he was upset, but none of them were really making an attempt to make him feel better. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just had no idea how to cheer the Linoone up. They didn't know what he liked, disliked, anything, really. So, they just sat around in silence for a while.

Eventually, Freezeo decided to speak up. "So, uh… what's the plan now? We just lost a member of the alliance and Sabrina is pretty much on my ass now since she heard and saw me help you guys."

"Well, I have no idea…" Chlotz replied, sitting on a stump. "But, if our numbers continue to dwindle, we're toast."

Sally's stomach softly rumbled at the mention of toast. The losing team had to eat whatever swill was left out at the gazebo in the early mornings. It smelled completely rancid the first time they went to it, so none of them ever bothered with it again. A fair amount of the Lugias hadn't eaten anything since they won a challenge; some gathered berries early in the mornings, while others just didn't eat or asked the _nice_ Ho-Ohs for food.

"I'm sorry for having to change the subject, but can you guys get us something to eat?" Sally asked. "I'm starving…"

Rapid didn't move, he only let out a heavy sigh, and Pia was writing on a notepad while sitting against a tree. This meant that Freezeo was the only one currently with any say in the matter; the Cryogonal groaned. _He_ always ended up doing the work in the alliance.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"It doesn't really matter, just… something filling…" she responded, her stomach still growling.

"Whatever…" Freezeo replied. "If only Jet was here. He'd fill you up and I wouldn't have to do anything…"

Sally glowered at him. "I'm sorry, but what does Jet have to do with anything around here?"

"Look, " Freezeo started. "I'm sorry, but it's only been a few days and I'm already getting tired of this alliance. I feel like I'm the one doing _everything_ when we're supposed to be helping each other!"

"Freeze, we don't even know our real plan at the moment," Chlotz replied. "We have this alliance to help each other, yes, but what are we supposed to help each other with?"

"Eliminations," Pia spoke up, not looking up from her notebook. Sally, Freezeo, and Chlotz turned to the Hypno with sudden interest; she hadn't offered any _real_ insight until now.

"Pardon?" Freezeo questioned, surprised to not hear any conspiracy talk from her.

"We need to help each other with eliminations," Pia repeated. "If we think that our numbers are dwindling, then we need to act now and get the heat off of us."

"Wow, _this_ is a new side," Chlotz remarked, folding his arms. "How come you weren't like this in our season?"

"Because I had a feeling that things were going to be insane on the island," Pia explained. "I thought… might as well try to earn some points with my club and see what goes on. But, I got eliminated early, so it didn't matter."

"Because it was annoying as all hell," Chlotz replied. "But, nice to see you actually contributing to the game."

Pia rolled her eyes. "We all have players on our teams that have made it extremely far in the game or who were brought back just for shits and giggles, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Sally said, folding her arms.

"All we have to do is get rid of _them_ first, and just go from there," Pia explained. "They don't need more chances."

"Hey, our team has Cano, and he was runner-up in the first season," Freezeo brought up, turning to Sally and Chlotz. "And you guys' team has Striker, who was runner-up in the second season."

"Exactly," Pia said. "We need to get rid of them first if we actually want a chance."

"Okay, and how are we going to fulfill that?" Chlotz queried. "They have large connections and more friends than all of us combined."

"And I'm sure that there are ways to turn those same friends against them. For a short while, at least…" Pia explained.

"Okay...and how are we going to do _that_?" asked Freezeo.

"Oh, I've got an idea for Cano," Pia replied. "As for Striker, I'll have to come up with something later."

The others exchanged looks of surprise.

 **000**

 **Chlotz: Didn't think that Pia had it in her. Let's see where this goes.**

 **000**

Phill and Klavier were walking around the beach out of boredom. It seemed that walking around was the only real activity that everyone could do around here, unless they wanted to explore the school or stayed in the cabin the entire time.

"This island is trash compared to our first one," Phill remarked.

"Well, I've never really competed on you guys' original island before; I just went to it the first time in the All-Stars season," Klavier said. "But, I guess I can agree with you…"

Phill groaned. "This sucks. Why does life has to be so hard?"

"I have no idea, but Fez seems to be the one that is having trouble with life and reality right now…" Klavier brought up.

"How do you figure?" Phill queried.

"Well, considering that his plan for getting Sabrina back involved making her have sex with me in _front_ of him," Klavier started, "I think it's safe to assume that."

"Wait, he seriously wanted you to fuck his ex-girlfriend in front of him?!" Phill bellowed in shock. "That's crazy! What guy wants that?!"

"Apparently, he thought that because Sabrina was upset about his cheating, _her_ having sex with me, which would be cheating to _him_ , could bring them back together," Klavier explained.

Phill sighed, shaking his head. "If _that_ is how he thinks relationships work, I don't think he should've been in one in the first place."

"Yeah, you're probably right…" Klavier spoke up. "Sabrina hates him even _more_ now."

"Well, that's his own fault," Phill opined. "It _was_ a pretty dumb idea. Like, why you specifically?"

The Gliscor sighed. "Yeah, I can't help but to feel bad about that," he started, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Like, I've been 'interfering' with their relationship… pretty much ever since it started. So, I guess that makes sense."

"Actually, that makes perfect sense," Phill replied, deadpanned. "You've been constantly around them throughout the relationship, and since he cheated, and you wanted Sabrina to begin with, he thought that you'd be perfect."

"And the thing is… I don't even carry feelings about her anymore," Klavier replied. "So… it'd be very very awkward even _if_ we went through with it…"

Suddenly, soft moaning was heard coming from the forest, alerting the two of them.

"Speaking of awkward," Phill spoke. "It sounds like someone's getting it on out here…"

"Ooh~ I wonder who…" Klavier said inquisitively, beginning to fly in the direction of the noise. Phill quickly grabbed his tail before he fully went into the forest in an attempt to stop him from investigating, but ended up being pulled with him.

 **-000-**

After a while of gliding through the forest and narrowly dodging trees, Klavier slowed down, taking residence behind a bush upon locating the source of the noises. Phill groaned, his face in the ground, as he had constantly slammed into tree branches along the way.

"Wait...is that-"

 **-000-**

Summer was grinding in Kojo's lap, doing a little bit of a teasing show. Kojo had a smile plastered on his face as he rubbed her hips and thighs.

He kissed the back of her neck and down her back. The Typhlosion let out soft squeaks before raising off of him and lying on him, giving him sultry eyes.

"You know, the getting to know each other better thing really is being pushed to the side, just a tad bit, but I think I like it…" Kojo complimented as the two locked lips.

After a while, they broke it, with Summer's nose touching his. "Well, why don't we get to it, now?" she asked, before resting her head on his.

Kojo chuckled. "It's kinda gonna be hard with your hand so close to my crotch," he spoke up.

Summer looked down and noticed that her hand was, indeed, on his groin. She giggled. "So it is…"

"I wouldn't have ever pictured you being this frisky, Summer," Kojo said, stroking her cheek.

"Well, being in a _somewhat_ intimate relationship and an _overly_ intimate relationship really brings the freak out of a girl…" Summer said seductively. "Sorry~."

"It's not a complaint," Kojo assured. "It's just a bit weird seeing this side after almost knowing nothing about you other than 'she gets mad' or 'she's brash and serious'."

"Who said that?" she asked.

"Oh, no one said it. It was just old observations when we never talked," Kojo explained. "Now I know how amazing you really are…"

Summer smiled, kissing his cheek. "So, where do we start?" she asked, turning around again and sitting up in his lap.

"I guess we can start from how we grew up…" Kojo said, a bit sheepishly, wrapping his arms around her waist.

 **-000-**

"Oh my Arceus, that's Kojo and Summer!" Klavier whisper-shouted. "I didn't know they were together!"

"They are?" Phill inquired, getting off of the ground. He scurried to the bushes Klavier was behind and peeked through them, seeing his friend talking to Summer while she sat in his lap.

He gained a small smile. "He… he actually looks...happy!" he beamed, proud of Kojo for moving on. However, another thought entered his head instantaneously. "Wait...what happened to the Floatzelle thing? She'll ruin his life!"

Hearing that, and looking back at the couple, Klavier huffed. "I don't think he cares about that anymore. Like you said, he's actually happy…"

Phill looked back at the two and saw Kojo kiss her shoulder, with Summer throwing her head back, giggling. He smiled. "I guess you're right. "

I think we should leave them alone…" Klavier said.

Phill nodded in agreement before climbing onto the Gliscor's back. "Yeah, let's go. I'll talk to him later…"

Klavier glided back toward the beach, leaving the couple alone.

 **000**

 **Phill: Kojo and Summer… I never thought in a million years that they'd get together. Let alone interact! They're just like… on two opposite ends of the spectrum.**

 **But, nevertheless, I'm happy for him, and I hope Floatzelle or her goons or...whatever don't find out about it.**

 **000**

The Ghoul Gang was once again at LeGrae, talking about what had been going on.

"I swear, if I could kill myself, I'd happily do it right now," Egridos grumbled. "My team is so fucking dumb and annoying."

"I'd be upset, too, if our team lost three challenges in a row," Dhaunt commented. "But hey, at least you haven't been in the bottom for elimination! That's a good thing, right?"

The others gave the Gengar a look of 'really'? The looks immediately made the Gengar turn away sheepishly. "Nevermind."

"The fact that you guys have lost so much is pretty annoying to me as well…" Lassie commented. "I mean, I don't want my own team to lose, but the _reasons_ that you guys lost have been bullshit."

"Well, to be fair, the prison challenge was just up to where you were locked up and how close the keys were…" Marion started. "Macey was a lunatic, and _you_ were the one who ruined their catapult in the last moments…"

Lassie and Dhaunt's eyes widened, as she wasn't supposed to divulge anything regarding their teams' strategies in challenges. They turned to Egridos, who was glaring daggers at the three of them.

"You did _what_?" the coffin growled.

"Well, it's uh…" Lassie started, rubbing the back of her head. "We… we decided to-"

"So, so… while we _literally_ had to struggle to do the challenge that you guys got an _advantage_ in, you decided to throw salt in the fucking wound when we actually start being successful?!" Egridos bellowed furiously. "What kind of fucking friends and _wife_ are you!?"

"Dude, it's just a competition…" Dhaunt said, attempting to calm the situation. "Each team is allowed to do whatever they want or need to do so that they win. It was somewhat in poor taste, but-"

"SOMEWHAT?!" Egridos exclaimed. "You guys totally fucked us over in the last minute! And really? My own wife? I thought we were in this together."

"We are, but we're also on different fucking teams!" Lassie huffed. "If either of our teams lose, we likely won't face elimination so long as we don't annoy anyone or fuck up the challenge. Things like this are going to happen and have _been_ happening since the first fucking season! Deal with it!"

Egridos growled to himself. "You're lucky you're hot when you yell," he complimented, folding his arms.

The Froslass groaned, rolling her eyes. It was always so easy for her to stop him from yelling that it actually annoyed her.

"...So are we okay now?" Marion questioned, easing her way back into the conversation. "No bad blood?"

"Whatever," Egridos replied, rolling his eyes. "So long as you never do it again."

The three of them exchanged glances before looking back at him. "We can't promise that. We're just three players on a team of strategists and intellectuals, who _will_ try to find ways to win no matter challenge, just like your team will," Dhaunt explained.

"Like hell my team will!" Egridos exclaimed. "They'll probably argue about who found something first or get mad over shit that has nothing to do with the challenge!"

"Hey, give them a chance. They may surprise you, you never know," Marion remarked.

Egridos groaned. "I'll be surprised if I hear a cohesive sentence about something that's not stupid…"

"Egridos!" Lassie blustered, glaring at him. "Enough," she said annoyedly. "You're always complaining, but do nothing about it. Hell, I bet they feel the same way about you!"

"You should know by now that I don't care about anyone's feelings but yours and these guys'," Egridos explained. "So, that means nothing to me."

Lassie groaned. "For fuck's sake! Okay! Just do what you want on your team, _hubby_. If you guys keep losing, that's on _you_ and whoever else is doing bullshit."

"Okay, then…" Egridos said, uncaring.

 **000**

 **Lassie: Ugh...he's so annoying it hurts. If you want things to change...** _ **do something!**_ **Don't just bitch and moan and act like the problem lies in everyone else.**

 **But...he has a good heart underneath all of that, and he has his moments…**

 **000**

Annie was looking for Titan and Cramad. Ever since she found out about Connor and Taylor, she had been thinking about what she could possibly do with the information. She needed advice, but she didn't know who to go to since she didn't exactly know where the insect couple was located.

Suddenly, an idea formed in her head. "Maybe they're back at the lake," she assumed, passing by the Winner's Cabin and heading into the forest, in the direction of the lake.

 **-000-**

Titan and Cramad were indeed by the lake, however, they were not alone. They were accompanied by Clay, strangely enough, who was actually acting civil and overall… normal!

"So, what do you suggest we do, then?" Titan asked. "If ya haven't realized, this bloody game ain't in our favor…"

Clay started thinking momentarily. "Hmm, well, you can always try sabotage or convince the others to vote with you guys. You just have to make a good enough argument and you'll be fine."

"Well, I don't think sabotage will help us that much, so I guess convincing will have to-"

"There you guys are!" the three of them heard, as Annie popped her head into some bushes around the lake. She immediately turned her attention to Clay, who was beginning to get to his feet.

Seeing this, Titan immediately called out to his friend. "Ey, mate! Sit back down. Annie doesn't bite."

"I know she doesn't, but I don't want anyone who'll probably rat me out or something…" Clay explained.

Annie was astonished that Clay was actually being coherent and not anomalous. "I wouldn't do that," she spoke. "And...have you always been able to act like a normal Pokemon? No offense, of course."

Clay gave her a look that said 'really?' before looking to Titan and Cramad, who didn't have anything to say about the situation. The Imitation Pokemon sighed.

"I mean, first season you were okay, but after that, it just seems like you lost your mind," Annie continued.

"That's because after I got eliminated and started seeing the rest of the game after I left, I didn't want to really compete ever again," Clay explained. "So, I decided to act like a creep so that I'd get the boot early every time I had to come back."

"You don't want another chance to win?" Annie queried, bewildered.

"At the expense of my _actual_ mental state? Nope," Clay replied. "You guys can ruin your own lives."

"Then why are you still on the island?" Annie questioned. "Shouldn't you be back home if you hate the game?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing much for me to do at home," Clay explained with a shrug. "I don't really have any friends and my town's pretty boring. So, better to stay here…"

"Well, you know that we usually don't go home when we're eliminated," Cramad reminded. "We end up going to a resort until the season's over."

"Hmm...this is true," Clay said, pondering. He wanted to stay and just help out Titan and Cramad in order just be part of the action with none of the consequences. If he was eliminated, he got to go to a resort, so he didn't really care. "But, I think I'll stay for a while to provide continuous support for my _former_ team."

"Wait," Annie started, turning to Titan and Cramad. "You guys have been talking to him when you guys are gone together?"

"Eh, not every time," Titan replied. "Other times it was just a small date for us," he said, nudging Cramad with his pedipalps, making her giggle.

"Huh… Well, I guess extra help wouldn't be that bad," Annie said. "Especially now that I have some information that could help us out."

"Oh?" Cramad questioned. "What kind of information?"

"Yeah, let me hear this," Clay said, taking a seat back on the grassy ground and folding his arms. He may have been acting like he was crazy, but watching the shows back at home, he actually found himself developing worthwhile strategies as well as a sense of knowing what actions and information is valuable. He didn't like acting on them himself, but he surely going to help as much as he could as long as he was there.

"Okay," Annie started. "Yesterday, after you guys left, I saw Connor come to the lake. Nothing to worry about, right? Wrong. Taylor came out of the lake, and I started hearing them talk about who they could go for on their team. I think Taylor said something about 'the unfaithful wife' or 'the faggot'. Hmm no, I don't _think_ , that's _exactly_ what he said, because Connor asked him about his sexuality after and he got _really_ defensive and angry about it."

"Alright," Clay spoke up, the other three glancing at him. "From what I'm hearing, the two of them are in an alliance that is going to target whoever they feel like, and Taylor is having trouble accepting his sexuality. Those are two weaknesses that are easily exploitable."

"What?" Titan questioned. "How is that a weakness?"

"Alliances are _always_ weak points," Clay emphasized. "They hardly ever last long, and if they do, their members get picked off for reasons disassociated with the alliance."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense, but what about the other thing?" Cramad asked.

"If you're unable to accept something about yourself, it makes you easily agitated whenever something pertaining to it is mentioned," Clay explained. "That makes you an irritable member to have and can lead to your elimination."

"I'm unsure about what to do with it," Annie admitted. "Like, do I tell the two of them that I know? Do I tell the rest of their team? Do I tell the rest of _our_ team?"

"Calm down," Clay responded. "You don't have to do anything right now. It isn't your team's problem yet. If they somehow make it to the merge, _then_ you tell them. Or, if they start causing issues for you guys, _then_ you let their team know. It's all about timing. Now, I don't really know what that Taylor guy is capable of, but just be wary when you decide to go through with it."

"Um… okay, I guess," Annie said. "Thanks Clay."

She turned to go back through the bushes and leave, but she saw Taylor and Connor at the other side of the lake, again. She gasped. "They're here," she whisper-shouted, peeking through the bushes.

Titan, Cramad, and Clay looked through the bushes as well, seeing the Milotic and Bouffalant.

"We need to get closer to hear what they're saying," Clay said as he started walking around the outside of the lake.

 **000**

"Okay, the wannabe leader's gone," Taylor started. "Have you thought about who you want to go for now?"

Connor remained silent, shuffling his hooves as he looked to the side, sheepishly. His silence told Taylor his answer immediately. The Milotic growled. "For fuck's sake! You're supposed to be helping in this alliance, not just sitting there like a fucking rock!"

The Bouffalant flinched, trembling slightly. He was really starting to reconsider his choice to be in this 'partnership' with Taylor.

The Tender Pokemon took a deep breath, his blood beginning to boil. " _Arceus, I wish these fucks would've brought back Rex. At least I'd have someone with actual ambition… plus I'd get laid…"_ he thought.

"Okay," he finally said after releasing his breath. "I guess we'll still be going for the fag or the wife. And if you say _anything_ about me being gay-"

"Wait, so you are?" Connor questioned dimly. "I mean, I thought you said that you we-"

Taylor used Scald on the buffalo instantly before he could even finish his statement.

 **000**

 **Taylor: I AIN'T GAY! These fucks need to get it out of their fucking heads already! So what if I liked Rex having his way with me? That doesn't mean anything! It was all just strategy and placebo!**

 **And if I was gay, wouldn't I be trying with all my power to get pounded by all of the guys here? I mean seriously. I mean, some of them look decent enough, but-ERGH! Forget I said that!**

 **000**

"Yep, they're definitely toast," Clay commented, watching and listening to their interactions. "They're so incompatible; it's only a matter of time before one of them breaks and betrays the other."

"So, do we even need to tell anyone, then?" asked Cramad.

"I don't believe so," Clay replied. "But, just keep it in the back of your minds in case you do. And take notes..."

The three Ho-Ohs nodded.

 **000**

"Ugh… where the hell has Summer _been_ lately!?" Marie growled, sitting on the beach; Anthony was sitting at a reasonable distance away from her, building a sandcastle to pass the time. Once again, Summer was late for their meeting, and it was starting to annoy him. Not because nothing was getting done, but because he had to deal with Marie _complaining_ about her being late.

"Come on, what has got you so preoccupied that you-" she continued as the Shellfish Pokemon's short castle crumbled down.

Once that happened, and he continued hearing her grousing, he growled. He had enough. "Shut it!" he exclaimed, getting onto his feet. "SHUT! IT!"

Marie looked at him as if he was a madman before glaring at him as he started his 'rant'.

"I'm sick and tired of your fucking whining about her!" Anthony griped. "It's obvious that she's doing something either stupid or important! It was be fucking personal for all we know! Just because you have nothing better to do than sit around and plan stuff doesn't mean she's the same way! Maybe she's I don't know… _social_?!"

Marie continued glowering at him, though this time it was less harsh. He was right; she wasn't really that social, at least with the girls around here.

"I think you we need to have another member around here so that I don't lose my sanity, and you can shut the hell up!" Anthony bellowed. He walked back to his spot and sat back down, this time facing away from her.

Marie thought about it for a moment before gaining a smile. She got onto her feet and started heading back to the Winners' Cabin, leaving anything with his sand.

She had a perfect idea of who she wanted to add to the alliance.

 **-000-**

Sabrina was sitting on the couch in the winner's cabin with a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream next to her. She was watching Cheaters on the television in the living room. Everyone else from the team was out and about except for her and… _him_.

Fez was in the back; Sabrina had warned him that if he got near her, she would quote 'shove her claws so far up his cloaca that he'd taste the dirt on her talons'. He sighed as he sat on his bed; he wanted to talk to her and try to make up, but he knew that she wasn't going to let him. Especially after what happened last time.

After a while, he took a deep breath. He knew that Sabrina was very intense and violent when it is required of her, but he didn't know how far her hatred or dislike of him lied. Maybe it wasn't was bad as he thought, barring the threat to internally mutilate him through his anal and penile orifice. He softly flapped his wings, heading to the living room. Swallowing in nervousness, he approached the couch.

"Uh...S-Sabrina?" he started. "I know that you said that you'd practically kill me if I bothered you again, but… I can't stand it. I care about you; I love you. I know that me cheating has completely turned you away, but can you _please_ give me another chance? I promise you that nothing like that will ever happen again!"

He got no response, and after waiting a few more seconds, he sighed and just turned back around to sulk in his room. She must _really_ despised him.

In reality, he didn't get a response because Sabrina was no longer sitting on the couch; he had been talking to nobody.

 **-000-**

Marie had entered the Winner's Cabin, greeting the visibly aloof Staraptor. "Hey, Sabrina…"

The raptor turned to her. "Hey, Marie," she replied, devouring another spoonful of ice cream. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came back for you," Marie explained, approaching her. "I think I have an offer that'll be beneficial for both of us."

Sabrina raised a brow. "What kind of offer?"

"An alliance," Marie revealed. "You're a strong teammate, so I think that you'll be perfect."

Sabrina, upon hearing that, started thinking about it. It really _could_ be beneficial to have allies that she could count on, but on the other hand, alliances hardly ever lasted long. After a moment of silence, Sabrina finally responded.

"Alright, I think I'll join…" Sabrina spoke, leaving the spoon in the tub of ice cream. "Is it just you?"

"No, no, it's Anthony and Summer, too," Marie explained.

"Wow, you really got the actual powerhouses of the team," Sabrina remarked. "I applaud you…"

Marie chortled. "Yeah", she laughed. "Anyway, we're meeting up on the beach if you want to get involved right away."

Sabrina nodded in understanding. "Well, considering that my no-good ex is the only one left in this place, I think I'll have to take you up on that."

"Great," the Feraligatr rhapsodized. "Let's get out of here, then."

The two of them headed out of the door and back toward the beach.

 **000**

 **Marie: Sabrina is a very capable player, so of course she'll fit in right in the alliance. And now, whenever Summer's late, we still have three people caught up.**

 **000**

 **Sabrina: As long as I'm away from the cheating bastard and I've got support in this game, I'm fine.**

 **000**

Luna fired a Shadow Ball toward Cano, who dodged the attack, causing it to hit a tree. The Arcanine blasted a Flamethrower toward the Bite Pokemon, who used Double Team, surrounding the setting. The Flamethrower hit one of the decoys, causing it to fade away.

As all of the decoys prepared to use Shadow Ball once again, Cano used Heat Wave, attacking all of the Mightyena at once. All of the decoys fizzled away, leaving Luna to be hit. Shaking off the attack, she charged forward, her fangs bared and glowing yellow.

The Arcanine swiftly dodged the attack, causing her to growl as she landed, missing the target. Cano's eyes glowed red, a red aura surrounding his body as he charged toward her. Luna quickly tried to dodge, but he got a mouthful of her tail, clamping down hard before tossing her into the air. He leapt up and began clawing and pummeling her with his paws.

They fell onto the ground with a thud, the 300+ pound canine towering over the dark-type. She had fainted.

The red aura faded from his body as he moved off of her. "Nice battling, babe," a voice said from the side. Sparky and Vixen, who had been watching the battle, approached the two.

The Luxray nuzzled his downed mate, while Vixen giggled as she stood next to Cano. "Did you have to go so hard on her?" the Ninetales asked, side bumping her mate.

"Hey, she wanted the battle," Cano replied with a shrug. "I gave her all of my strength…"

Luna groaned as Sparky helped her get back on her feet. "Damn it, bro, I'm the one who's supposed to make it hard for her to stand!" Sparky joked.

"Hey, don't start that," the older sibling replied. "The fucks watching this stupid show will start creating more rumors …"

"And those rumors would be likely true…" the four of them heard. Looking around, they eventually heard bushes rustling and turned to that direction.

An all too familiar Glaceon and Furfrou exited the foliage with snarky smirks. Their presence caused the girls to growl and the guys to just keep neutral expressions.

"I mean…" Aura continued. "If Sparkplug and Shit-sune here already fisted in jail and have all this speculation surrounding whether they're cheating on you losers or not from seasons ago, who's to say that you two don't get payback by having sex so that _all_ of you have scandals and share the blame?"

"Well, I mean, marriage means being there for each other right?" Aspen said, turning to Aura, a bit perplexed by her choice of words. "All they'd have to do was use condoms and get it over with, deal with the BS that they may or may not get outside of the game, and never speak of it again."

The four of them exchanged glances before looking back at the trying twosome.

"Why would you even make sense of that?!" Aura blustered. "I was trying to-UGH! Nevermind, just forget what I said…"

"But, you basically just-"

"Aspen… stop!"

The two of them retreated back into the foliage, leaving the four of them alone. There was silence among them for a while until Sparky spoke up.

"Well… she's not wrong," the Luxray opined, earning shocked and agitated looks from the other three.

"What the hell are you on about?" Cano growled. "That stupid bitch is never right."

"Exactly!" Luna barked.

"Look!" Sparky exclaimed. "I don't like thinking about this bullshit, but the speculation and all of the shit between me and Vixen needs to stop!"

"And sleeping with me is going to fix all that?!" Vixen snarled.

"No! But maybe it'll shut people up!" Sparky exclaimed. "And maybe Cano can just be with Luna for a few minutes. That way, we all fuck up, and we deal with it."

"That sounds like a fucking horrible idea!" Cano snapped. "This is the fucking reason I never wanted to come back to this shit show! The same shit keeps popping up and it just escalates every time!"

"We need to end it somehow!" Sparky exclaimed. "Like she said, we could use condoms-"

"NO!" all three of them bellowed.

"CONTESTANTS! MAKE YOU WAY TO THE MOUNTAINS FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE!" Victini bellowed. "I'M SURE YOU'LL HAVE A _BLAST_!"

"Great, now we have a fucking challenge," Luna growled. She got nose-to-nose with her husband, her eyes glaring daggers at him. "But let me say this now. You've helped me grow as a Pokemon, you've cared for me and I've cared for you, and I respect you. But, if you try _anything_ that will hurt me, or anyone else, I will end you. Understand?"

Sparky purred. "We'll see…"

Luna smacked him, making him yell in pain. "Ow! I was joking! Gosh!"

Luna sighed and kissed his cheek before they started heading to the mountains.

 **000**

Everyone made it to the base of the large jagged rock formation. The contestants gaped at the sight of it.

The mountain was enormous; granite and iron, as well normal stone, joined together to form every bump, groove, and jagged edge that outlined the large formation. This mountain was not as large as the one on the original island, nor the one on Parafrosyni Island, but its extra ledges and weak-looking exterior guaranteed that it was much more dangerous than the other two. As a wild Fearow flew past the mountain, a few rocks began toppling down the cliffside, bumping into others that eventually caused a larger rockslide.

"Welcome to you guys' next challenge!" Victini cheerily announced as he and Mew floated in front of them. Zahku was with them as well, and he was pulling a large, rusty wagon behind him. The wagon had a fairly large lump that was covered with a white tarp. "Are you ready!?"

Everyone stared blankly at the fox host, who kept his smile. "Great! You guys' enthusiasm is always so on point!"

"Just explain the challenge, Mozilla," Egridos jeered.

Victini rolled his eyes. "Anyways, after seeing my lovely girlfriend Shaymin do a mountain climbing challenge for her ungrateful contestants, I thought, why not do it for mine…?"

"So… Now you're ripping off of another host?" Anthony inquired teasingly. "Wow, you must be really out of ideas…"

"Uh… for your information, we've had challenges dealing with mountains and this challenge is _also_ an homage to all of them," Victini defended.

"And did you just say you had a _girlfriend_?" Phill questioned. "What girl in their right mind would _ever_ want to be with a psychotic sadist like you?!"

"You'd be surprised," Mew commented tonelessly, folding his arms.

"Hush, you," Victini demanded, glaring back at the season's co-host. "I get laid. You don't. Deal with it."

Mew rolled his eyes; he could care less about getting laid anyway. Plus, to him, dating Shaymin wasn't that big of an accomplishment.

"Now," Victini started. "Your goal today is to traverse this mountain and make it to the top. But, there _is_ a catch."

"Oh joy," Striker drawled.

"You all will be completing your climbs…" Victini started. He gestured to Zahku, who upon seeing the fox and the competitors looking at him, yanked off the tattered white tarp. Removal of the tarp revealed the same backpacks that were used in the challenge prior. "...while wearing these bomb-filled backpacks!"

"So you're reusing one-off props?" Carson asked.

"For your information, all of these were pre-made before the last challenge even came about!" Victini explained. "The challenge order was switched around. Deal with it."

Everyone remained silent, so Victini continued with his explanation.

" _Now_ , this challenge will take a lot of energy and hand-eye coordination, as well as a lot of luck, as this mountain is very unstable. And, in addition to the bombs that will be on your backs, Zahku will be up top throwing things down at you to knock you off. The first team to get all of their players up onto the mountain top will win, and the losing team _will_ be eliminating someone tonight."

"What? No bullshit advantage for the winners of last time?" Kojo inquired.

"No. This challenge will not have an advantage implemented," Victini explained. "So, you losers _may_ actually stand a chance this time around. Though, I've been wrong before."

The Loser Lugias glowered at Victini. They'd lost three challenges in a row, yes, but that didn't mean that they were destined to fail.

"Alright, now get strapped in your backpack, and we're going to head to the top and prepare to destroy you," Victini chirped. "Also, a little bit of extra information, _these_ backpacks are programmed to explode after forty-five minutes have passed, and you are only allowed to discard them once you've reached the top. If you lose or discard your backpack before that, you will be disqualified from the challenge, meaning that your team will lose."

"And what if they blow up before we make it to the top?" Brian inquired.

"Then you continue climbing; if you're still conscious, that is…" Victini chortled. "Now, get those backpacks on, and we'll let you know when to begin…"

 **000**

Everyone began putting on their bomb-filled backpacks, some having to take more time than others due to their body types. Freezeo, Striker, Frosty, and Taylor were the main ones have difficulty due to a lack of actual limbs that'd hold the backpack in place.

"Uh, how is this going to work?" Striker asked. "I don't have anything that'll really hold this heavy thing up!"

"Don't you know String Shot?" Holly asked. "If you do, you just have to tie them to everyone's backs that need it to be done."

"Oh, that actually sounds like a good idea!" Striker remarked. He quickly used String Shot on his own backpack.

"ALRIGHT CONTESTANTS, BEGIN YOUR ASCENT! NO FLYING, FLOATING OR PSYCHIC-RELATED MOVES ALLOWED!"

"Wait, guys, what do I do?!" Freezeo panicked as he saw his teammates begin running toward the mountain and begin climbing.

"Freeze it to yourself or use your fucking chain!" Aura yelled back as she grabbed onto the mountain and slowly started making her way up. "If we end up losing this because of you, don't be surprised at the results!"

Freezeo scoffed upon hearing that borderline threat. As everyone else started climbing up the large rock formation behind him, with the exception of Frosty, Striker, and Farra, who were still helping each other prepare, the Cryogonal used his icy chain to pick up the backpack. And with the fact that he couldn't float, it was going to be _very_ difficult for him to make it up the large mountain.

 **000**

"Well, this challenge is... _something_ , I guess," Ashton commented as she pulled herself up onto a particularly jagged ledge, almost slipping due to the unstable minerals crumbling beneath her feet.

"I don't know how they expect us to climb up this huge landform in _under_ forty-five minutes without flying or using psychic assistance," Holly said as she used her legs to carefully make her way up to the ledge that Ashton had just pulled herself upon.

Amethyst was making her way up onto the same ledge, with Carson dragging behind, having to forcefully embed his arms into the hard precipice in order to elevate himself.

After pulling herself up, Amethyst let out a sigh of relief as she sprawled onto the ledge.

"You okay, Amy?" Ashton asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah…" the meek Amaura replied. "I'm just soaking in the fact that this is going to take a painstakingly long time. And the fact that we're guaranteed to be blown up."

"Well, that makes sense," Holly remarked as she peered over the edge of the ledge they were on, looking down at their teammates and competition.

Carson was huffing and puffing as he forced him left arm into the mountainside again, causing a few pebbles to topple down. The bell grabbed hold of the ledge and forcefully yanked himself up, causing him to fly upwards and land in front of Ashton, causing the land underneath them to crack a bit.

"I hate this challenge. I hate it, I hate it so much," Carson kvetched. "Without floating, I'm practically screwed!"

"Hey, you just made it all the way up here. I'm sure that you can make it higher," Holly said as she started her ascent again.

"I know I can, but it's gonna take too long!" Carson replied. "It's so freaking uncomfortable to do!" he fused, shaking his arms a bit.

"Well, technically, we don't have to deal with climbing," Amethyst said, turning to him as she got back to her feet. "They said that we couldn't use floating, flying, or psychic moves. They didn't say anything about other types of moves or abilities. So, Ashton could, strictly speaking, use Vine Whip and help us up."

Holly stopped climbing, as she, Amethyst, and Carson turned to their Meganium friend, who was a bit skeptical about the idea.

"Um… I don't know guys," Ashton expressed tentatively, looking up toward the peak of the gargantuan landform that they were on. "Victini said that this mountain was unstable, and… I'm inclined to believe it."

"Not every section of the mountain is going to crumble, Ashton, we just need to be-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chlotz landed on the ledge that they were on with a pained slam, causing more cracks to form.

"Oh no…" Carson groaned.

 **000**

"Summer," Marie called, dragging herself up higher on the jagged mountain edges. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you taking so long to come to our meetings lately?"

Summer let out a grunt as she pulled herself up onto a thin ledge. She almost ended up losing her balance and falling back, but she clung to the rock. With that crisis averted, she finally decided to answer back. "I've just been... _preoccupied_ with something else. Rest assured that I'm still a part of the alliance, though."

"What thing have you been so preoccupied with?" Marie prodded.

"Uh…"

"Social skills," the badger heard Anthony say as he climbed up. "We talked about this already. Just because _you_ don't talk to anybody except for us doesn't mean that she has to be the same way."

"That makes sense and all, but if we're in an alliance, shouldn't all of the members be together a fair amount of times?" Sabrina input, having a tough time climbing up with just her claws.

"Wait, Sabrina, you're in the alliance now?" Summer questioned. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with it or anything, just-"

"Mhmm," Sabrina nodded as she lifted a talon and almost fell over. She put her foot back down and hugged the rugged mountain wall. "Damn this stupid challenge…"

"Uh… So, did you guys discuss anything of importance?" Summer inquired, now feeling a bit guilty about not being there; she felt that Sabrina's addition was a response to her not being there as often or on time much.

"Of course not," Anthony opined as he continued climbing up, much to the chagrin of Sabrina and Marie. "Seriously. We've won _three_ challenges in a row. What the hell is there to talk about? The meetings are more or less Marie's 'social' time."

"Screw you, Anthony!" Marie called, glaring up at the Shellfish Pokemon. "I hope you get blown up by that stupid bomb!"

"Well, with you flapping your lips instead of climbing, I can assure you that your hopes with quite literally backfire on you…" the Blastoise countered, making Marie growl before she started climbing after him.

"Those two are perfect for each other," Sabrina remarked, shaking her head as she started trying to climb again, this time using her wings as arms so that she could scale the mountain easier.

"Isn't Zahku supposed to be throwing crap down at us?"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" they heard as they saw Egridos fall toward the ground, with a trashcan following him.

Summer smacked her lips. "Okay, I retract my question," she said as she started climbing once again.

 **000**

Ace was barely having any trouble climbing up the large landform. Using his ribbons, he grabbed onto rocks that were jutting out of the mountainside so that he was always stable.

As he made his way up, he felt a presence around him. Turning, he saw that it was an Espeon climbing near him, appeasing his nerves.

"Oh, hey Shine," the Sylveon greeted as he continued climbing up. "You doing okay?"

The Espeon initially wanted to ignore the Sylveon and continue her ascent, but she knew that ignoring him probably wouldn't help anything. Plus, they both had the same common enemy at the moment: Aura.

"Well, ignoring the fact that this shitty backpack's straps are chafing my shoulders, I say that I'm doing just _peachy_ ," Shine answered.

Ace nodded as they continued their ascent to the mountain top. Recalling his time spent on Parafrosyni Island, he recollected about seeing Autumn's dad. He was pretty terrifying guy, so Ace curiously started asking about how their relationship was going.

"So...uh…" the Intertwining Pokemon started before hearing numerous thumps. He looked forward, only to be hit in the head by a wrench thrown down by Zahku. "OW! Fuck!"

Shine ducked as a saw headed in her direction. "Ugh… stupid host…"

Ace groaned, rubbing his head. "Why do they love hurting us so much?"

Shine shrugged, unsure of how to respond, before just continuing her climb. Suddenly, a beam of ice was fired in her direction, hitting right where she was about to pull herself up.

Growling, she looked up a bit. Ace, having seen what happened, turned and well, and had the same reaction at who he saw.

Aura was glaring down at them, using Ice Beam on different parts of the rugged mountainside they were climbing up.

"Fuck off, slut!" Ace yelled, glowering at the shiny Glaceon standing on the higher level.

"Naw, I think that I'll have some fun here," Aura said, smirking down deviously at them. Aspen, seeing this, wanted to say something, but she had a feeling that Aura would be adamant about pestering the two of them instead of focusing on making it up the mountain.

 **000**

 **Aspen: Yes, I'm friends with Aura, but I wish that she'd try to ignore those two and not try to bother them every time she sees them! I mean, it was funny at first, but now it's a bit annoying.**

 **000**

"So, how does it feel to be the ugly bitch?" Aura insulted, speaking to Shine, who was still climbing up, ignoring the icy sections.

Shine was completely finished with her. She was literally wasting time, just sitting there and trying to make her and Ace fail, all the while talking down to them as if she was the greatest thing in the world. There was no point in wasting her breath if nothing was going to change, so Shine ignored her comments and just focused on the challenge.

Ace continued climbing, as Aura focused all of her attention on berating Shine for whatever reason. Since they couldn't use any psychic-type moves, they'd have to deal with her incessant insulting and bitching.

 **000**

 **Ace: This is going to be a** _ **long**_ **challenge.**

 **000**

Annie, Titan, and Cramad were climbing up the mountainside with rather minimal difficulty. Being that two of them were bug-types, they were able to cling to the surface of the mountain and move at a normal pace in order to get up. Annie simply held onto Titan for the ride.

"I still can't believe Clay's creepiness was all an act," Annie spoke up.

"Head's up!" Cramad shouted as a toilet fell down between them.

"Crikey!" Titan exclaimed, seeing the porcelain 'throne' descend quickly next to him. "What kind of fuck just has a toilet lying around?!"

"This is an island that Victini is the owner of, I'm sure that means that he does whatever he wants," Cramad responded.

"And apparently tossing toilets and other things is a part of that…" Annie remarked. "But seriously, what was up with Clay? You guys know him better than I do."

"You heard the mate. He hates this game so he faked being a weirdo," Titan replied.

"Wait, but if it was faked… how come in the first challenge, him having murderous thoughts was true?" Annie questioned.

"According to him, he dreams about being a butcher…" Cramad answered. "Unsure if it's true or not, but that's his answer."

"Hmmm… well I guess that makes sense," Annie replied, though still a bit skeptical about it. "And I still can't believe that he has all of that knowledge and refuses to actually play the game."

"Well… that's just his decision," Titan replied, continuing his climb. "He's already out and there's nothing we can d-OW! Cunt!"

A hammer had bounced off of the rocks and hit his head. "You okay?" Cramad asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm alright Sheila…" Titan replied, slightly groaning.

"This challenge sucks," Annie commented, looking up as a yo-yo smacked her in the face. "Ow!"

 **000**

Morgan, being a feline, was easily scaling the mountain, not even causing any smaller stones to topple. The jagged ledges and increasing slippery surfaces were hindrances for a short while, but she was still doing pretty well.

As she climbed up and narrowly dodged a sink thrown toward her, she identified a cave to the upper right of her and grew curious. On one hand, she wanted to check it out to see if the immunity idol was there, but on the other hand, she didn't want to be blown up. She'd had enough of that.

Climbing onto a spacious ledge, she peered back down jumping out of the way of a television, which smashed next to her. With a snarl, she glared upwards. "Fuckers…" she growled.

She looked back down and saw that there were a number of other competitors close to making it to the same level as her, some were her own teammates, but others were members of the opposing team. She swiftly sprinted toward the cave. She gazed around the roof and walls of the leaky cavern, seeing nothing of use or interest. She huffed, having wasted her time.

As she headed back out, she bumped into Sola, who supposedly had the same idea as her.

"Don't bother," Morgan advised. "There's nothing in there."

"Damn it…" Sola cursed. "I was hoping _something_ would be in there."

"Same here," Morgan replied as she headed toward the mountainside and started her ascent again. "But, there's not, so let's just get on with the challenge."

Sola nodded following the Persian, as she sank her claws into the risen earth and began climbing after her.

Not wanting to be in silence, Sola decided to engage in casual conversation. She reached the same height as Morgan, eventually. "So, uh… how's you and Hex's marriage going so far? I'm still a bit curious at how you two bonded so quickly third season. I mean, I saw it, but what was going through your mind the whole time?"

Morgan held back a giggle, as she wanted to just make it to the top first. "Uh, I don't think talking right now would be that smart; we're still trying to make up this stupid mountain and we could get hit by so-OW!"

Ironically, a bucket of thumbtacks hit her head as she explained. She growled as she looked back up toward the top. "I WILL RIP YOU APART!" she yelled upwards.

"I see what you mean now…" Sola replied as she continued up, her paws feeling a bit sore from the tedious hike up the jagged landform. She looked up as a tennis racket flew down, passing by her face.

"Ugh...and these goddamn backpacks don't help at all!" Morgan growled, shifting her shoulders. "Arceus, this fucking sucks."

"Well, I think we're almost there, at least," Sola said, continuing up. "Come on…"

Morgan grumbled to herself as she kept climbing up.

 **000**

"Rapid, will you get up!?" Pia bellowed as the Linoone lied on the ground. Pia had just had to carry him on her shoulders like she was wearing a scarf in order to get him up.

"Won't I just slow you guys down?" the Linoone asked dismally. "I mean, my disorder doesn't exactly make me the most reliable…"

"Whoa… where'd that come from?" Pia question, hands on her hips. "Your reliability has nothing to do with your disorder. It's just your character. Jeez, ever since Reta left, you've just been glum."

"How would you feel if your significant other was eliminated?" the dejected Linoone inquired, eyeing the Hypno.

"I wouldn't be upset, since they're still alive and they won't have to deal with bullshit associated with this game any longer," Pia replied. "Adding on, I'd even try to make it far in order to _win_ for him! You're the male of the relationship! Act like it!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" they heard as Chlotz landed on the Linoone, knocking him out. A loaf of bread was seen impaled by Chlotz' nose, signifying the cause of his fall.

"Really Chlotz? Bread!?" Pia groaned.

"Mommy, I don't wanna suck the Miltank teets," Chlotz groaned.

Pia facepalmed. She turned, and luckily enough, she saw Cano shakily making his way up the mountain. She gained a smile. Seeing that he was rather far behind, she decided to use this to her advantage.

She sauntered over to the Arcanine, who was starting to get his actual grip and pull himself up. "Need some help, there?"

Cano was a bit startled from the new voice, losing his grip and falling on his ass. With a growl, he turned to Pia. "No thanks, I think I have this covered. Plus, they said no psychic assistance."

"No, not with the challenge, with your love life…" she started.

"Um, excuse me?" he replied, a bit taken aback by her boldness in saying that. "What would you know about my love life, _newbie_?"

"Well, I know that your wife has been branded as a slut and her and your brother have some very interesting interactions…" Pia answered, folding her arms. "I'm just trying to offer you some advice that'll possibly help you guys out, because it's only a matter of time before you two get a divorce…"

"WHAT?!" he barked, glaring at her. "Never!" he snarled.

"That's what they all say, but all of the attention is part of a conspiracy. It happens almost all of the time on reality shows. Couples face some kind of intense, relationship-breaking event, and they act like everything's all fine until it all blows up and they're hating each other," Pia explained.

"Uh-huh, and why would I believe a conspiracy theorist psycho?" Cano questioned as he tried to start climbing again.

"Because I have an idea that could save your marriage…" Pia replied.

Cano scoffed. "Please. I doubt it. I don't even think you're in a relationship yourself. So, what makes you think you know what's best for me and my wife? You don't _know_ us."

"Ignoring that logic and denial, just let me outright say it," Pia started. "You need to sleep with someone else to get the heat off of Vixen."

"WHAT?!" Cano bellowed as a plunger hit him in the head. "How the fuck is cheating on my wife going to save anything?! Dear Arceus, you, Aura, and Sparky sound fucking stupid!"

"Oh, so others have already given you this advice?" Pia questioned.

"Yes, and it ain't happening!" Cano growled as he was knocked back down by a blender to the face. "Now, if you'd so kindly fuck off and actually do this challenge, it'll be really appreciated."

And with that, he began his ascent once again, with Pia giggling to herself as she went back over to Rapid and Chlotz, who had watched her converse with him.

"Uh… what just happened?" Chlotz asked.

"Don't worry about it," Pia replied. "You'll see results later on. Now, hop on, Rapid. Or are you going to be a man and climb up yourself?"

Rapid let out a sigh. "I'll do it myself," he groaned in defeat.

"Okay, good, so-"

Immediately, Rapid zoomed up the mountain side, a trail of smoke leading behind him.

"Well then…" Chlotz commented.

 **000**

 **Pia: Plan is now in motion. And with others already giving him ideas, this'll be perfect.**

 **000**

Taylor was making his way up the cliff painfully slow, but he was still making it. The laciniate and rugged terrain was really taking a toll on him, as he was getting _very_ scratched up. He was sweating, the pain and soreness he was feeling giving him reason to stop and rest on a flat ledge as others passed by. Connor shakily climbed up onto the same ledge, shaking his head with his tongue out before smacking his lips. He had been holding onto Taylor tail fin with his teeth, which pinched, and annoyed the Milotic.

"Why… the fuck ...did you bite me?" Taylor growled raspily and out of breath. "You could… have just fucking climbed up yourself!"

"Sorry," Connor said, looking down sheepishly. "I just thought that it'd be faster. And if it makes it up to you… you taste like… uh… d-daffodils?"

There was a moment of silence between the two. However, after a while, Taylor slapped him with his tail. "Fuck you..."

Connor sighed. "So, are you okay to keep going? I think we're almost there," he said, looking upwards.

He looked back down to Taylor, and jumped back in fear upon seeing that he was giving him a death glare. "Do I LOOK like I can continue going? I just dragged your pathetic ass up over 100 meters of jagged craggy rock and my stomach is scraped to shit! I could probably disembowel myself before I make it up this stupid mountain!"

"So what are we gonna do? It's getting pretty close and I don't-"

" _You_ are going to pay me back, by taking me the rest of the way up this death trap of a mountain!" Taylor bellowed, only to be hit in the head with a brick, knocking him out cold.

Connor let out a sigh of relief. He looked upwards, seeing the distance he'd end up having to drag the unconscious sea serpent, before groaning again.

 **000**

 **Connor: I hate my life**

 **000**

Brian panted as he pulled himself up onto another ledge. "Evil… has made it…" he commented as he made it up the mountain.

With a scoff, Victini rolled his eyes, seeing the Multiplying Pokemon get up. "Fine…" he groaned. "You can remove your backpack…"

Brian got upright, taking off the chafing backpack before glancing over and seeing Rapid, Lassie, Dhaunt, and Marion floating there, waiting. Along with them Ashton, Amethyst, Carson, Holly, and surprisingly, Sally, were already up for the opposite team.

"How the devil did you three get up here so fast?" the Reuniclus inquired.

"We could ask you the same thing," Lassie retorted, folding her arms. "You don't seem the physically fit type to climb up…"

"Neither do you," Brian replied, folding his arms. "I guess it's equal, then."

"Uh… we're on the same team," Dhaunt reminded. "Why is this being brought up?"

Nobody said anything, effectively ending the conversation. "That's what I thought…"

 **-000-**

Soon enough, the competitors began making their way to the very top of the mountain. The backpacks had only two minutes left on them at that point, and there were seven players still missing from each team by the end of it.

For the Ho-Ohs, the only ones missing were Cano, Luna, Pia, Phill, Fez, Klavier, and Freezeo. Meanwhile, the ones missing for the Lugias were Farra, Striker, Frosty, Taylor, Connor, Chlotz, and Kojo.

"This challenge was shit!" Morgan growled, sitting down while panting softly.

"Oh pipe down, you all didn't even get blown up," Victini chided. "That's more than I can say about your teammates if they don't get up here by the next minute and a half."

Everyone exchanged looks. Summer became rather flustered with that revelation. If Kojo didn't make it up there before the other members of his team did, he'd likely be going home! " _Come on, Kojo…_ "

 **000**

Kojo was actually nearing the top of the mountain, looking forward to catching his breath and resting his aching paws and feet. However, Zahku threw a laptop straight at him, knocking him down into Phill and Klavier, who were following close behind.

They landed on a rather small ledge, luckily.

All three males groaned in pain, their backpacks continuing to count down. Kojo got back onto his feet and noticed that who he had fallen on. "Phill, Klavier? I'm surprised you guys aren't already up there."

"Same to you," Phill said, still a bit dazed as he rose up. "And congrats on getting with Summer, man."

Kojo froze. Neither of them had told anyone, so how did he know about it? "Uh...what?"

"You and Summer. I admit, I never thought that you two would-"

"Hold on!" Kojo interrupted. "Hold the hell do you even know about us?"

"Well, Klavier and I were walking around the island talking. We heard moaning coming from the bushes, we investigated, and we found you two getting pretty frisky with each other…"

Kojo groaned. "Fuck ME!" he exclaimed, the echo causing a few rocks to start toppling down beside them.

"Uh, guys, I hate to be the bearer of shitty news, but if we don't get up this mountain in thirty seconds, we're getting blown off, and _not_ in a good way," Klavier said.

"Shit!" Kojo cursed as he bent his legs before springing up, using High Jump Kick, to get high enough. He grasped onto the ledge and tried pulling himself up as Zahku was preparing to hit him with a wrench.

Seeing this, Summer had to suppress the urge to knock Zahku off of the edge and help her boyfriend up, reminding herself that this was still a challenge and he was competition.

Kojo made it up, even after the Hariyama still tossed the wrench at him. He swiftly removed his backpack, which stopped counting down upon its removal.

After a few more seconds, multiple explosions were heard, with, screams going along with them. Phill and Klavier both landed on the top of the mountain, groaning.

"What!? How'd you two get up here?!" Victini exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter. We're here," Klavier groaned.

Victini rolled his eyes. "Whatever, as long as you got hurt."

The two of them glared at the insensitive host.

 **000**

Pia groaned as she sat up, the explosion having thrusted her into the mountain before causing her to fall back onto a lower ledge.

Looking over, she saw Luna unconscious on a higher ledge, seeing a black paw hanging over the edge. She then noticed that Cano, was next to her, groaning as he slowly rolled over to get back on his feet.

She picked up a rock, which came out from the explosions, and walked over to him. While he was still trying to regain his composure, she bashed him on the head, knocking him right back out.

Chlotz, who was still embedded in the mountainside because of his backpack, slowly pulled his head back with a groan, only for a roll of toilet paper to hit him in the head.

In his daze, he saw Pia rolling Cano onto his back and spreading his front and hind paws. He slowly peeled back, falling hard on his back as he eyed what she was doing.

He rushed over, tripping in the process because of all of the rocks that were freed from the mountain. Once he was actually there, he asked what she was doing.

"What's the plan here?" he whisper-shouted.

"I'm gonna make it look like he and Luna had sex and cost us the challenge," Pia explained after groaning. "That way, I can convince my team to vote him out. And you can back me up since you're here."

"But, won't you ruin their marriages and stuff?!" Chlotz questioned.

Pia shrugged. "They were bound to be ruined because of this game anyway."

 **-000-**

After dragging Luna down and laying her over Cano, Pia took their muzzles and placed them together, so that they were kissing, before adjusting their poses so that it didn't look accidental.

"Perfect," Pia said, dusting her hands off. "Now, let's get up there."

Chlotz watched as Pia started her ascent and looked back at the two unconscious canines. He quickly went over to them and, making sure that Pia wasn't looking, moved their paws so that it actually looked accidental. He then quickly moved away and started climbing after her.

 **000**

Farra, Striker, and Frosty were still slowly making their ways up the mountain, not feeling any soreness or pain from the bombs due to the fact that Frosty had frozen them before they could.

"Okay, so what do we do? The other team is probably mostly finished by now!" the Snowstorm Pokemon bellowed, carefully holding onto Farra's tail.

"Ugh...if we could use psychic abilities, we could have been up there by now!" Striker said.

Suddenly, Farra got an idea. It may not work because of their combined weight, but it was worth a try. "Striker you could use String Shot and just pull us up that way!"

"Hey, yeah! And the threads are strong, too!" Frosty added.

"Yeah, but I don't know how far it'll go!" Striker expressed.

"Hell, that doesn't matter!" Farra exclaimed. "As long as we're getting somewhere! I don't want to go to elimination again and I want the Winner's Cabin. Do you!?"

"No to elimination, yes to cabin…" Striker said.

"Then come on!" Frosty insisted.

Striker took a deep breath, firing a String Shot upwards until it hit the underside of a ledge.

"Nice! Now reel us up!" Farra instructed.

Striker detached himself from the first string. "I'm in your horns, if I reel in, I go and you guys are stuck here…"

"Okay, then tie us together first!" Frosty brainstormed.

Striker sighed. "Oh boy…"

 **000**

Fez was able to pull himself up finally, panting like mad. "Fuck this challenge. Fuck it to death!"

Soon after he came up, muffled grunting was heard as a hoof came over the top ledge, and Connor's face was seen after, tail fin in mouth. He fully pulled himself up before continuing to move back to bring Taylor, who was still unconscious, up as well.

"Looks like both teams only need four players each," Victini acknowledged. "This is getting close!"

Pia climbed up, tossing Freezeo onto the top ledge face first. "Life sucks…" he mumbled into the ground.

 **000**

 **Freezeo: My backpack didn't even explode because I froze it. I got knocked out by a freaking coffee table! Next thing I know I'm being carried by Pia and thrown onto the top ledge. Well, thankfully I wasn't last.**

 **000**

Pia and Chlotz came up afterwards, with Chlotz almost falling backwards off of the mountain top.

"Yes! Now we just need… Cano and Luna," Marie said, looking over her teammates.

"Last time I saw them they were having sex on one of the ledges…" Pia said, immediately causing almost everyone's eyes to widen.

"Oh-ho-ho, scandalous!" Victini cheered, rubbing his hands together.

"Y-You're lying," Vixen said with a glare. "There's no way he'd do that!"

"Ask Chlotz, he was there, too," Pia said, rolling her eyes.

Immediately, all eyes fell on Chlotz.

"Well klutz, is it true or not?" Aura asked, rather excited about this.

"I...guess so," he replied, making Pia facepalm in her head. "I mean, I saw them on top of each other and it looked like they were kissing, but-"

"Aw, I guess your man got revenge for your kissing around, finally," Anthony added, earning him a punch from Marie.

Vixen didn't believe it. There was no way. The way that they were so adamant about not going through with it, only for them to do it, didn't make any sense. She didn't say anything; she'd find out herself.

As for Sparky, he didn't have a reaction. Sure, he was upset, but with all that happened, he wasn't that surprised.

"I swear, if we lose because of those two fucks wanting to revenge fuck in the middle of the challenge…" Sabrina growled.

"Considering that they're 'asleep' right now, I think it's safe to assume that-"

"We made it...hooray…" they heard as they turned and saw Striker, Farra, and Frosty all lumped into a ball of string.

"I knew the String Shot would work!" Farra cheered.

"Me too, but I didn't know it'd be that fast! We shoulda just did that from the very beginning!"

"And with that, the LOSER LUGIAS WIN… for once!"

The Lugias cheered, they finally got to go back to the Winner's Cabin. Meanwhile, the Ho-Ohs were seething, as neither Cano nor Luna had come up yet.

"Ho-Ohs, you're sending someone home tonight. And I wonder who your choices will be…" Victini said sarcastically before chuckling.

 **000**

"Ugh… what happened?" Cano inquired as he woke up and saw that a good majority of his team glaring daggers at him. He looked to the side and saw that Luna was next to him, receiving the same glares. They were both in the campgrounds, so this really confused him. "What the hell happened? Where'd the mountain go?"

"Don't change the subject," Lassie stated bluntly. "What made you two think that during the challenge was the right time to cheat with each other."

"WHAT?!" they both exclaimed.

"Don't play dumb," Sabrina said. "I can't stand fucking cheaters to begin win, but now you've cost us a challenge because of it?!"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?!" Luna exclaimed. "Cano and I never had sex!"

"Yeah, where the hell did you-" Cano started before seeing Aura's sly smile. He growled. "Did that icy fucking wench tell you that we had sex. She was the fucking one who brought the idea to attention!"

"Oh please," Aura said, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't me. But nice job admitting that you had the idea in your head…"

"Pia and Chlotz saw you two screwing," Summer growled, folding her arms. "One person from each team, so there's no reason for deceit."

Upon hearing those names, Luna immediately grew skeptical. Plus, she knew for a fact that they didn't screw because she didn't feel sore. Vixen always said that Cano almost always made her sore because of his 'size'.

"Uh huh, two people that participated in the same season and who majority of us know nothing about," Luna spoke. "They've gotta be lying!"

"Okay, even if you guys didn't cheat," Phill started. "You guys still cost us the challenge."

"Oh come on, climbing isn't my best skill and the bombs were-"

"Uh-tut, no excuses," Aura said with a smirk.

Both of them glowered at the Glaceon with disdain.

"It'll be a wonder if your relationships stay intact after this," Aspen remarked. "And I'm being very serious."

The two exchanged glances.

 **000**

"So you two actually went through with it?!" Sparky exclaimed. "After the threats and-"

"NO!" they both exclaimed.

Vixen went over and pushed Cano onto his back, much to his confusion. She began sniffing around his private area, causing a reaction she knew she'd get. Upon inspection, she could easily see that he was dry, meaning that nothing had happened.

"Okay, so you guys didn't fuck," Vixen said. "Why the hell would those two lie like that?"

"They're probably trying to-"

"HORRIBLE HO-OHS! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR SECOND ELIMINATION EVER!"

Cano groaned. "Great… but hey, at least one of won't have to deal with this BS anymore. This is actually good!"

The other three gave him a look.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs had all cast their votes and were waiting for the results. After a while, Mew came up. "Alright, let's get this over with," the pink cat drawled.

"Wait, where were you during the challenge, mate?!" Titan bellowed.

"I was at the hall taking a hot bath, but I still saw the live feed," he replied. "Now, you guys know the drill. And basically everyone except for Cano and Luna are safe."

Everyone glowered at them, with the exceptions of Aura and Pia, who held satisfied glances.

"The one that's free from this hell-hole is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Cano. Luna, sadly, you still have to deal with this shitshow," Mew replied.

Cano smirked as he got to his feet. "Thanks. Now I don't have to deal with more of this crap."

"Oh quiet, cheater," Sabrina squawked. "Get out of here."

"Gladly," Cano said snarkily. "I just hope you all enjoy putting yourself through more of Victini's shit. Remember, only _one_ of you will win, so the rest...you'll be doing this for absolutely nothing."

They all exchanged wary, competitive glances.

"Oh, and uh… my marriage is still fine. Since my wife actually knows me and the fact that I don't have a reason to cheat," the Arcanine said as he headed to the dock. "Have fun…"

 **000**

 **Klavier: Jeez. Didn't know he could be such a smug jackass.**

 **000**

 **Pia: Mission One - Accomplished. Mission Two - In Progress**

 **000**

Cano and Mew were the only ones on the dock, the tube still there.

"Okay, so Victini's apparently meeting with the hosts of the island over there to talk, so just… hop in, I guess," Mew said.

"Can't you just teleport me home?"

"Nope," Mew said. "Everyone has to go through the elimination device."

Cano groaned before looking at the tube and heading toward it. He peeked down into it, only to be sucked down immediately.

"And there you have it," Mew said. "He's gone now. What'll happen next time? Stay tuned in for the next episode of Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **There, I hope I have satisfied a good majority of you. Pia shows a side other than her conspiracy crazy side. Clay? Actually helpful? Huh. Looks like Phill and Klavier have some things to talk with Kojo about. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Cano: Review...just do it.**


	7. U Not Legend

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, in an homage to all of the mountain-related challenges, as well as a kiss-up from Victini to please his new girlfriend, the contestants had to scale the mountain of the new island… while wearing the bomb backpacks! Some contestants struggled and were scraped, while others… they were pretty much the same. Phill and Klavier discovered Kojo and Summer's relationship; wonder what that's going to entail. Sabrina joined Marie's alliance, making it even stronger. Clay gave Annie, Titan, and Cramad advice on how to play the game. Weird right? And Pia unveiled her manipulative and strategic side, and claimed her first victim by making her hole team think Cano and Luna had sex. Needless to say, it wasn't a surprise that Cano was the one to be sucked away.**

 **What's going to happen this time? Will the challenges ever be normal? Will someone be critically injured? Will I ever get paid? Find out right now on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Pia hopped into one of the beds of the loser cabin, her hands around the back of her head. She felt very accomplished, as she was able to get rid of Cano so easily. She'd thought that it'd be harder than that, but apparently he was completely fine with being eliminated, which was perfectly fine by her.

However, while that was one of her plans being successful, the other girls partially showcased the repercussions of it.

"Will you girls stop glaring at me, already?" Luna growled, lying on a bed, as she felt the piercing eyes of the other females of the team.

"Oh, b-but you had sex with a married man," Aura taunted. "That means you're a fucking slut and you need to be eliminated."

"Fuck off, Aura!" Luna snarled. "I did _not_ have sex with Cano! Get that through your oh-so thick skull!"

"Oh, so what? Pia and Chlotz were just lying about everything?" Sabrina questioned incredulously. "Get real!"

"Okay, you know what?" Luna began. "Believe whatever the hell you want. Both Sparky and Vixen know the truth since Vixen fucking _checked_ to see if anything really happened and she came up empty! So you can hold this stupid grudge all you want, but you'd be completely wrong the entire time."

"And again," she continued, as the girls exchanged looks before they got beside their own beds. They had a feeling that she was going to ramble on. "You guys are choosing to listen to a girl who we know _nothing_ about, meanwhile most of you have known me since _first fucking season!_ "

"And in first season you were just shy and quiet, that's it," Summer replied. "Nothing that showed your actual character. Now that we're all adults, we don't know anything about each other's private lives."

"Well, then by that logic we can believe anything that _anyone_ says about someone else," Marion spoke. "I don't really think she cheated. We would have smelled sex if they did…"

"I still don't get that, what does sex even smell like?" Annie inquired.

"Sweat, musk, and self-loathing," Marie commented tonelessly as she finally climbed into her bed, draping the covers over herself. "Now, we got rid of one of the causes of our loss tonight, and we need to focus on that part of the competition and not the emotional parts. It's likely not gonna happen, but at least try to hold yourselves together."

"Yeah, you know it's not gonna happen," Aspen replied. "Everyone has their own mindset and will vote for whoever they see fit."

"Well, whatever happens, happens," Marie replied, laying her head on the crusty, flat pillow on the bed.

All of the girls remained silent for a while.

"So are we gonna just glaze over the fact that she thinks sex smells of self-loathing?" Lassie questioned.

 **000**

Vixen sighed as she lied on her bed. She knew that Cano would be eliminated; it was obvious. She didn't really care that he was eliminated, she dealt with and won an entire other show after he was eliminated after all, but it just felt wrong. His inability to efficiently scale larger structures played a part in his team losing the challenge, sure, but he was still a strong competitor that could have been a reliable asset. And why would Pia and Chlotz make up a lie about him and Luna sleeping together during the challenge?

She sighed, as he was already gone and there's nothing she could do. So, she decided to just let it go and move forward. It wouldn't help anything to sulk and groan about it.

Morgan padded into the bedroom and hopped into her bed with a bag of Sour Oran Rings. "Man, it feels great to be back in the Winner's Cabin," she sighed before opening the bag with her claws.

She eyed Vixen from across the room and saw her curled up. She knew that Cano was eliminated, but she didn't think that it'd affect her that much. She hopped off of her bed and went over to Vixen, who was just watching the door.

"Uh… you okay?" Morgan asked, sitting next to her bed.

"Hmm?" Vixen hummed before sitting up. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about this whole situation…"

"Oh," Morgan replied sheepishly. "Well, I don't really know what to say, then. I'd rather not insert myself into it."

"Oh, there's nothing to be worried about, I know for a fact that they didn't cheat. It's just… Cano was likely going to lose the challenge for them anyway since he can't climb that well," Vixen explained. "So it's just peculiar to me that Pia and Chlotz brought up cheating. I mean there was a possibility that he'd be eliminated, but if it came down to it, Luna would have been the one to go because of lack of usability; no offense to her."

"Vixen. I think you're thinking _waaaay_ to deep right now," Morgan replied after hearing her thoughts. "This is a game where people do petty things to get ahead, people lie to each other just to get respect and for things to go their way, act like children and complete jackasses for their own personal gain, and a lot more! Cano's elimination happened; it's part of the game. Just erase all of your speculation. We've been through this shit for a long time."

Hearing that from a fresh voice, Vixen took a deep breath and smiled softly. "Thanks. I guess I needed that reminder. Every fucking time we're in this game, I just get a bit scatterbrained."

Morgan giggled. "No problem."

 **000**

After learning of Phill and Klavier's knowing of their relationship, Kojo knew that he needed to talk to Summer as soon as possible. He was hoping to catch her as they came back from the ceremony, but all of the girls immediately went inside of the cabins out of anger, so he was worried that he'd get his head ripped off. He was currently outside of the Loser Cabin, standing at the girls' door. He was worried about the barrage of questions that may come his way if he asked for Summer in specific, so he'd have to think fast.

He knocked the door, taking a deep breath as he waited for someone to answer it. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh of relief as a Typhlosion opened the door. Summer was surprised to see him there, her eyes wide.

"Who is it, Summer?" Annie asked innocently.

"Oh, uh… it's just Kojo," Summer replied. "Don't worry, I'll see what the hell he wants."

In saying that, the Eruption Pokemon stepped out of the cabin, closing the door behind her. She quickly turned her attention back to her boyfriend. " _Kojo, what are you thinking? What if I hadn't been the one to open the door_?" she whispered

" _Then they start speculation and either fail or find out like Phill and Klavier did,"_ Kojo whispered back in response, folding his arms.

" _Yeah, well that's probably true, but-_ " Summer immediately paused mid-sentence, the final part of Kojo's statement sinking in. "- _Wait, come again?_ "

" _Uh… I think it'd be better if we went somewhere a bit more private so that more people don't find out,_ " Kojo replied, taking her hand. He led her down the cabin stairs and the two headed behind the Loser Cabin.

Summer was completely bewildered at the fact that two of her teammates found out about her and Kojo. She needed to know _how_ they found, because she felt like they were stalking or spying on them. "Alright, explain to me. How the hell did they find out?"

"According to Phill, he and Klavier were walking around this morning, they heard us…" he stopped, clearing his throat. "Y'know…"

Summer blushed, folding her arms while looking away bashfully.

"And when they went to investigate, they saw us," the Mienshao finished.

Summer sighed as she took a seat behind the Loser Cabin. Seeing her in that position, Kojo got low and sat right beside her, holding her hand. She gave him a small smile before her expression turned sour. "Well, what do we do?" she asked. "I mean, I kind of wanted to tell Marie and a few others about us, just so it wasn't anything to hide. But, now that those two idiots found out and this stupid 'cheating' rumor has surfaced, I don't know if it's the right time."

It was Kojo's turn to sigh as he let his head fall back against the back wall of the cabin. "Ugh… Fuck this game…" he groaned frustratedly. "Why the hell is almost everyone here still acting like a fucking child? Most of us are in our early and mid-thirties, but teenage tendencies and actions still arise. Now we can't just let everyone know that we're together because they'll think that we're conspiring against our own teams."

"And we'll likely get the boot because of their own insecurities or just so they can feel better and get further in the game," the Eruption Pokemon finished, resting her head against the back wall as well.

"That's how the game always is… and it still fucking sucks," Kojo replied with a chuckle. Summer giggled at this, scooting away from him a bit before resting her head against his.

"So, what are we going to do?" Summer asked with a sigh.

Kojo shrugged. "I'm not sure," he said, draping his arm around her. "Not much _to_ do, really. Just make sure those two don't tell anyone else."

Summer nuzzled him before getting back onto her feet; Kojo followed suit. "See you in the morning?"

Kojo nodded in response before the two shared a kiss. Summer stroked the side of his face, giving him a flirty smile, which the Mienshao responded with by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to himself.

Summer giggled at his actions. "Alright, down boy," she teased. "I need to get back before the girls get suspicious."

"They're gonna ask about what happened anyway…" Kojo replied. "But, alright…"

The ermine released his sweetheart, who rubbed his head slowly in response. "Talk to you later, cutie…" she said as she started heading back around. Kojo noticed her swaying her hips and could've sworn she looked back at him from the corner of her eye. He chuckled, shaking his head playfully.

 **000**

 **Kojo: She's amazing. I'm really happy that we're together, and that's something that I've missing for years, happiness.**

 **000**

 **Summer: *sigh* Kojo is such a great guy. He's gentle, intelligent, charming, nonchalant, and… we just have a lot in common. This is going really great so far. All I have to do is make** _ **sure**_ **that Phill and Klavier don't ruin it by opening their mouths.**

 **000**

After his team's elimination ceremony, Brian retreated back to his cave, or well, his 'lair'. When the Macey-induced orgy occurred inside, he wanted to move to another cave and just start over all together, but he couldn't find any other suitable caves. So, he was stuck there. After giving it an _extremely_ thorough cleaning, the self entitled evil genius was able to get back into the swing of things.

Even after the events of Parafrosyni Island, Brian still felt a conflicted urge to validate his villainy. Well, he decided not to be a _complete_ villain, but he still considered himself one nonetheless. He had even gone to therapy again after that season was completely over. However, instead of dispelling the ideology of villainy from his head completely, his therapist actually supported him and told him to pursue his goal once again. So, here he was…

"Okay," he started, sitting at his chair. He stared at the computer screen before him, which had all of his teammates lined up alphabetically. "Okay, the large tiger mutt is gone now, but there are many more large threats that shall keep me from the prize money. I need to dispose of them quickly…"

He clicked on an Arcanine's picture before dragging it to a trash can icon, signifying Cano's elimination. "Now, the question is… who deserves to go next? Or who am I able to sabotage or convince the other players on this wretched team to vote for?"

He looked at each Pokemon on his team intently, thinking of their key characteristics and what he could do to terminate them. Scanning over each of his teammates, he was able to easily pull three people from the lineup: Rapid, Aura, and Luna.

"Hmm…" he started. "The Linoone has a disorder that I can use to my advantage to dispose of him easily. Maybe by the next challenge. The Glaceon is apparently the mother of Autumn and Chase, but her attitude is going to be sucky for a good majority of the game, and the Mightyena has apparently fornicated with the eliminated Arcanine while they are both in wedlock."

"Okay," he continued, clasping his hands together. "Those three are the targets for now. I may change my mind, but I'll try to make something happen."

"I am talking to myself," he stated in realization. "Darn you soliloquies!"

 **000**

 **Brian: I will have to do something if I want things to go my way. Let's see what the challenge will be and see what I am able to do.**

 **000**

Chlotz was resting peacefully in his room, as he decided to take Skore's bed instead of going back to the same room as when they won the first challenge. The arguing he had to go through with Taylor, as well as the noise caused by Egridos and Connor, were enough to convince him to move to another room; he'd definitely learned his lesson.

As the sun rose and the light began to shine through the windows, Chlotz moaned to himself as he draped the covers over himself, starting to feel the air conditioner blasting from the vent underneath his bed. Just as he felt warmth overtake him again, he felt the soft, soothing sensation of the mattress underneath him transform into a scratchy and grainy one, as if he was sleeping on softer sandpaper.

This sudden shift caused him to toss and turn before he finally opened his tired eyes. He looked around and found that he was no longer surrounded by the luxuries presented in the Winner's Cabin. Instead, he was surrounded by other sleeping players; specifically, his alliance members.

"What the-" he started, before turning his head and seeing Pia sitting on a tree stump with her legs crossed and arms folded. She wasn't visibly upset; she was just watching over the four, well three, that were sleeping.

"Pia, what the hell did you bring us here so early for?" Chlotz questioned, rubbing his eyes. "Couldn't this have waited another hour or two?"

"It could have, but what'd be the point of that when you could just go back to sleep once I finish explaining," Pia replied, raising a brow.

"The others are still asleep, though," Chlotz replied, looking around at his friends.

"They'll wake up eventually…" Pia responded, causing Chlotz to sigh.

 **-000-**

 **21 minutes later**

 **-000-**

Sally's eyes slowly began to open and she slowly rose up. She immediately recognized her surroundings and grew perplexed.

"What the heck?" she questioned, getting to her feet. "Why are we at the meeting spot, already?"

"Apparently Pia came up with a plan to get rid of Striker," Chlotz drawled, sitting against a nearby tree. "And since we're here early, she says that we could probably go back to sleep after she's done."

Sally groaned before looking down and seeing Rapid and Freezeo still asleep. With annoyed eyes, she kicked a bit of sand onto both of them, startling them awake.

"Blech!" Freezeo bellowed, his mouth having sand inside of it. "What the heck was that?!"

Rapid growled to himself as he scratched at his eyes due to the sand that was around them.

"Pia wants to explain the plan to get rid of Striker…" Sally stated grumpily, folding her arms.

"W-What's that gotta do with us?!" Freezeo exclaimed, turning to Pia. "You coulda just brought _them_ here and talked to them!"

Pia shrugged. "We're all part of the alliance, so this seemed like the right thing to do," she replied. "But, now that I've got everyone's attention, I think this plan will work okay…"

"Okay...and what _is_ the plan?" Sally questioned.

"You and Chlotz...talk down about him the next time you lose…" Pia said simply.

Everyone stared at her for a few seconds before starting to walk or float back to the camp. This caused confusion on Pia's part, who was sure that plan would work. The Hypno teleported the four of them back in front of her, agitated looks on each of their faces.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Why'd you guys just leave like that?"

Chlotz twitched. "Because your plan did not fucking require waking us up! It's just generic convincing! To think, you went from lying to everyone to get rid of Cano to just basic strategy. It's insane!"

Pia groaned. "Okay fine, I admit that it's completely underwhelming. But, I couldn't think of anything that'd be good against Striker other than his uselessness and the fact that Farra is the reason he made it to the final two."

Sally sighed. "Okay fine, we'll go through with that plan. But, make sure the next time you want us all up early, it's something that's actually beneficial."

Pia nodded. "Deal. Sorry…"

"It's fine," Chlotz replied. "Like Sally said, just don't do this for every generic plan."

 **000**

A couple of hours passed by and competitors began waking up, their blissful dreams being overtaken by the realization that they were still in this crummy game.

In the Winner's Cabin, Farra, who had been rooming with Ashton, Amethyst, Holly, and Sally, slowly rose up, shivering a bit from the frigid air that was surrounding the cabin. The sunlight that beamed through the window hit her, warming up her a tad bit, but not a lot. She was really glad that her team won and she was able to sleep in a bed that was actually comfortable.

She looked around and saw that almost all of the beds around her were empty and made, with the exception of Sally's, who still held the Ampharos, who had her pillow covering the back of her head. The Girafarig's stomach growled and she started heading out of the room and toward the kitchen.

Going down the hall and entering the area, she noticed that the girls, Carson, and Ace were the only ones that were awake at the moment. "Morning," she greeted.

The others responded back as she grabbed one of bagels that was left on the counter. She started heading toward the back again, this time to wake up Striker and Frosty so that they could talk about their choices for elimination if and when they lost again. She entered their room and saw that Kojo was leaving, while Frosty and Striker woke up shortly after.

"Hey Farra," Frosty greeted groggily.

"Hey guys," she replied, placing the bagel on Striker's bed before kissing the side of his head, causing him to blush, an embarrassed groan being emitted from the Metapod.

She picked up her bagel again before actually starting to chew and devour it. "So, are we having another meeting or-"

"Yeah," Farra replied. "We may have won the last challenge, but we've still lost a lot more. So, we need to focus on who we can get rid of when we lose again. We've only established that people focus on emotion or personal gain when it comes to elimination..."

"...But, aren't we doing the same thing now?" Frosty questioned. "Y'know, since we're targeting people before the challenge even starts?"

"Yes, we are. I know that I was against it, but it's what needs to be done if we want to keep ourselves ahead," Farra explained as she turned. "Come on."

Frosty floated behind her, with Striker hopping out behind her. Chlotz, who had since returned back to his bed to sleep, overheard the entire conversation they had and gained a smirk.

 **000**

 **Chlotz: What do you know? More stuff to work with.**

 **000**

Ashton, Amethyst, Holly, and Carson were the main ones in the front, as the others either retreated back to their rooms or left the cabin.

"So, I think we should start trying to work on your people skills, Amy," Holly brought up, draping a small wing along her side.

"W-What?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" Carson beamed. "We need to get you out of your comfort zone…"

"B-but… if it's comfortable, why do I have to leave it?" Amethyst responded nervously. "I mean, isn't my own solace the most important?"

"It is, but don't you think that you should be comfortable around others as well?" Ashton replied. "If we end up being eliminated early, you may be alone, and you need to be able to have conversations and make other friends."

"What's wrong with just being alone?"

"That's just no way to be," Holly replied. "I understand your plight, but you have to break out of your shell; it'll help you grow more as a Pokemon."

Amethyst looked toward the floor, resting her head on the soft velvet of the sofa.

"Aw… come on, Amy," Carson prodded, rubbing her back. "It'll be fine. There's plenty of nice people around that you could talk to…"

"I'm not good at starting or carrying conversations, though," Amethyst replied softly. "It's easy at this moment because I know you guys and we have a topic. Around others I just… I don't know."

"Well if that's what you're going on, all you have to do is get to know others," Ashton reasoned. "The question is… who do we start with?"

Holly, Carson, and Ashton began thinking, while Amethyst just sat there solicitously, burying her head in a pillow.

"Maybe we should start with Frosty, Striker, and Farra," Carson spoke up. "The three of them are always together and they're all fairly friendly."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Holly chirped. "Those three will be the perfect test runs!"

Amethyst moaned into the pillow in disapproval.

 **000**

 **Amethyst: Why can't I just keep being myself? The others around just seem so mean or like they have their own problems and I don't want to deal with it.**

 **000**

Shine was sitting at the gazebo, deep in thought, as she rested her head on the table. Specifically, she was thinking about the moves that she'd have to make in this competition going down the line, and also about how things were going back at home.

She sighed as her thoughts clouded her mind, making her surroundings rather blurry. So blurry, in fact, that she didn't notice one of her fellow Eeveelutions approaching her from behind. When the Espeon felt something stroke her back, she jumped slightly, breaking her free from her thoughtful trance. She turned around and saw Ace sitting behind her with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Uh… hey, Shine," he greeted.

"Hi… Ace," Shine replied, unsure about why he was there. Then, she recalled him trying to engage in casual conversation with her during yesterday's challenge, so it made sense. Sorta. "Any particular reason you're here?"

"Well, I don't have anyone else to really talk to, and… you're somewhat connected to Chase's sister, so, I just thought that it'd be okay," Ace replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a ribbon.

Hearing that, Shine sighed. Like she thought the day before, more allies couldn't hurt. "Yeah, it's okay," she replied half-heartedly.

"You don't sound like you mean it," Ace replied, hearing her tone of voice. "I mean, if you don't want-"

"Sweetie, it's okay," Shine replied reassuringly.

Ace hopped onto the bench, sitting beside the Sun Pokemon. He tried to start a conversation during the last challenge, but Aura, as well as the things being thrown down at them, interrupted the progress he was trying to make. There was a bit of awkward silence before Ace decided to start his inquiries.

"So, uh, if you don't mind me asking…" he started, as Shine turned to him. "What led you to going out with and marrying a scary guy like Shade? When I first saw him, he scared the everloving crap out of me!"

Shine giggled in response. "He's actually a genuinely sweet guy when you get to know him. He's also pretty sarcastic and nonchalant at times, which I kinda find attractive. When we competed together first season, things were a bit awkward since I was pretty ambiverted, but then we just slowly started building up and… we ended up getting together."

"So… when you guys competed as teens, was he as scary as he is now?" Ace questioned curiously.

"Uh, no, I don't remember him being as abrasive and aggressive as he is now when we first started," Shine answered. "I know that he had pent up aggression because of his father, but I think that he really showed his true anger in the second season when-"

"Oh, look at what we have here…" Shine heard before she could finish explaining. She sighed in annoyance at the interruption.

Aura padded forward, with a visibly annoyed Aspen in tow. "Two losers under a shitty gazebo. How quaint. What are you talking about? Her infertility?"

Immediately, Shine hopped off of the bench and headed back to the Winner's Cabin, ignoring Aura's comments. It took a lot to suppress the urge to knock the Glaceon's teeth down her throat, but she was able to keep herself from lashing out.

"Aw, scared of confrontation?" Aura prodded as Ace's eyes followed Shine back to the cabin. He would have snapped back at Aura, but seeing Shine take the high road and leave the vicinity told him something. Aura was never going to let up. She was never going to feel a pang of guilt about what she did and will continue to rodomontade about it and affront Shine at any given chance. It was downright pathetic. And the fact that Shine was practically over her meant that the insults were no longer doing their jobs. So, instead of outright flaming her, Ace instead decided to give her a bit of advice.

Taking a deep breath, the Sylveon spoke just as Aura turned her attention back toward him. "Look, Aura. You really need to grow up. You're in your mid-thirties and you're acting like an elated, slutty highschool bitch."

"Oh hush, fag boy. I'm the more experienced one here, so you don't get to have an opinion on me," Aura replied haughtily.

"Well freedom of speech is a thing, bitch, so I'm gonna say what I want!" Ace said, hopping off of the bench. "You're seriously proud of yourself? After all that you've done to Shine and her mate? You practically raped Shade and got pregnant without his consent!"

"Getting pregnant isn't up to consent, dumbass," Aura replied. "It happened," she shrugged.

"Still, you raped another girl's husband, got pregnant by him _and_ Chase's dad, had kids, and are now trying to paint yourself as this high and mighty bad bitch when you're really just a pathetic whore who couldn't keep a man if she tried!" Ace expressed, glaring at her.

"And what do you know about keeping a man?" Aura questioned. "You're just my son's cum dumpster. I don't call that a relationship."

Upon hearing that, Ace snarled internally, wanting to rip the bitch's throat out, but he kept himself externally composed. Being hit with a murder charge didn't sound like fun. "You're hopeless. You're deluded and hopeless," he remarked, heading to the Winner's Cabin. "Keep just being yourself. Your immaturity will surely get you ahead in life."

"Thanks, and maybe you'll get a couple of bucks when you're out on a street corner, girly boy," Aura retorted.

Aspen, having heard all of that from Ace's lips, couldn't help but feel a bit bad for Shine. Sure, when she first got here, she thought that everyone was just against Aura because she did something daring that they didn't approve on. But, this obsession Aura had with Ace and Shine was irking her to no end. Aspen didn't necessarily _like_ either of them, but when she was annoyed with something, she had a pang of conscience. She was gonna have to talk to her about this later.

 **000**

 **Aspen: I'm not one to care about how others feel, but this grudge or whatever it is that she has with them needs to stop.**

 **000**

Klavier and Phill decided to take another walk, this time toward the lake. The two of them were once again engaged in casual conversation, not bothered by their knowledge of Kojo and Summer's relationship.

"So you seriously haven't dated anyone this entire time?!" Klavier questioned, completely surprised by what he'd just been told.

"No. Just haven't been interested in anyone and vice-versa," Phill explained with a shrug.

"Come on. So, you've never found any girl attractive?"

"I never said that," Phill replied. "There's _plenty_ of girls that I find attractive, I just don't have interest in shacking up… at least not yet."

"Dude, how old are you?"

"I'm 35," Phill replied simply.

"Wha- YOU'RE ALMOST _40_ AND YOU _STILL_ haven't found anyone?" Klavier questioned, completely taken aback. "Well at least tell me that you're not still a-"

"OKAY!" Phill bellowed. "Let's move this conversation along…"

"Wait, wait, so you _are_ a-"

"I _said_ let's move along…" Phill seethed, with Klavier flinching.

Klavier felt like he'd discouraged or angered his friend, hearing his tone and seeing a vexed expression etched on his face. "Dude, I didn't mean to piss you off or anything, I just kinda expected almost everyone to-"

"No, no, I get it," Phill replied, interrupting him halfway. "I'm sorry for snapping. I just hate hearing the mention of my age in relation to well, forming a relationship."

"Oh… I get that. People keep buggin' ya?" Klavier questioned.

"Mainly my mother," Phill replied. "No matter how many times I try to get through to her that I'm fine, she keeps bugging me about how I'm never gonna find love unless I change the way I look and act."

"What? Dude, you look fine!" Klavier replied.

"Tell that to my mother," Phill replied. "She thinks that I'm a slob with no sense of decency."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like to clean my house often unless _I_ see that it needs to be cleaned," the Raticate explained. "I know we get royalty checks and everything from this stupid show, but that doesn't mean I always-"

"Whoa whoa whoa… what royalty checks?" Klavier interrupted.

"Yeah, what royalty checks?" the two of them heard from behind them. Turning their heads, they saw that Summer was right behind them; she had not made any type of noise that'd alert them that they were being followed.

"What the hell, Summer?!" Klavier asked, surprised by her sudden emergence. "How long have you been behind us and why?!"

"I'll explain once Phill tells me what the hell he's talking about with these 'royalty checks'," Summer replied, hands of her hips.

"What?" Phill replied. "We all get royalty checks every time reruns of these stupid shows are aired."

"But… but we're not actors," Klavier replied. "I thought only actors-"

"We're on television. The contracts stated that we'll be given residuals for every episode that we appear in when reruns are aired on television," Phill explained.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Klavier exclaimed. "The contracts really said that!?"

"You guys didn't read the contracts?"

"You actually read all of that?" Summer retorted.

"Again, my mother…" Phill replied. "But yeah, after I got eliminated and everything, my mom called and threatened to sue the show if I didn't get what I'm owed. Now I have like thousands of bucks stacked up at home. Yet, I still choose to stay in an apartment."

"I'm going to tear them apart for not telling us about this shit!" Summer growled to herself. "But, onto more important matters…"

The Typhlosion grabbed both males by their 'necks' before thrusting them against trees that were close together. Her eyes told them that she was angry, but her overall expression frightened them more, as she had an unnerving smile on her face.

"Whoa! W-What did we-"

Summer glowered at him, silencing the mouse immediately.

"Now," she started, her honeyed tone causing major unease. "I heard that the two of you found out about me and Kojo…"

The two of them exchanged worried glances with each other before turning their attention back to the Typhlosion pinning them to the thick, scratchy trunks.

"...and I just wanted to know if you two will keep your mouths shut about it…" she continued in the same honeyed tone.

"O-Of course!" Klavier bellowed.

"Yeah! We know how selfish and irrational some of the others are when it comes to new relationships," Phill explained. "We weren't gonna tell anyway!"

"Good…" Summer said, releasing them. "Because if anyone else finds out because of you, it'll be the end of you two," she threatened.

"But what if someone else finds out and we didn't tell them?!" Klavier inquired nervously.

"That's a different case entirely," Summer replied as she turned and started walking away. "Just remember what I said about _you_."

As she left, the guys eyed her in fright. She was much more aggressive than they remembered. But if there was one thing that they could agree with about her, it was that she had a nice ass.

 **000**

 **Summer: Those two had better keep their mouths shut. Now I have to go to a meeting with the others. Ugh...I'm still conflicted on whether I should let them know about Kojo and I or not. It'll make things so much…**

 ***Sigh* I'll have to talk to Kojo about it before I go to them.**

 **000**

"Ugh… she's late _again_!" Marie groaned.

"Will you just _stop_?!" Anthony growled. "She's still part of the alliance and you know that whatever you say can be easily explained to her in under five freaking sentences!"

"Quiet shortstuff, I'm tired of yourbullshit excuses for her," Marie growled. "I understand it and everything, but it's fucking annoying. Just because you don't care doesn't mean you're right!"

"Did you just call me pipsqueak?" Anthony questioned, giving her a rather vexed look.

"I'm almost eight feet tall and you barely break five feet, so yeah, _pipsqueak_."

Sabrina groaned. "What happened to the maturity around here?"

"Ask her, she's the one who started with the childish insults," Anthony replied, gesturing to the Feraligatr, who was still glowering at him.

The Blastoise's attitude really pissed her off. He could get away with talking pessimistically and telling her to get over herself, but the moment she retorts with something, she gets reprimanded for it.

"Oh, and miss 'I'm a pipsqueak'," Anthony started, turning to her. Marie growled, turning to him.

"What?"

In response, Anthony picked her up without even a sense of a struggle. He lifted her over his shoulder, with her struggling the entire time. Sabrina rose a brow at this as Marie continued struggling, but couldn't get free of the Blastoise's grip, despite her height.

"Height doesn't mean jack shit," he told her teasingly before placing her back down. He folded his arms and ducked his head as Marie attempted to smack him. She growled aggravatedly just as Summer started walking down the beach in their direction.

"What do you know, _she's here_ ," Anthony stated, gesturing to her.

"Sorry I'm late again guys, I just had to talk to someone," Summer spoke vaguely, sheepishly rubbing her l right arm with her left.

"Seriously, Summer, who the hell are you around all the time that makes you late for every meeting now!?" Marie questioned.

Summer looked away bashfully.

 **-000-**

 _Summer found Kojo sitting on the front steps of the Winner's Cabin. He wasn't doing anything of interest, just resting there._

" _Hey cutie," she greeted, approaching him upon seeing that no one was visibly around the area._

 _As the Typhlosion took a seat next to him, Kojo smiled and scooted closer to her. "Hey babe."_

 _They would have kissed, but the possibility of someone coming out of the cabin was all too high, so they just decided to talk casually._

" _Well, I talked to Klavier and Phill," Summer replied. "They won't be telling anyone…"_

" _That's good…" Kojo replied before a thought came to his head. "Wait… you didn't threaten to kill them did you?"_

" _No! I just threatened them will something vague. Big difference," Summer replied, with Kojo sighing in response. He chuckled seconds later, though._

" _Well, at least we know we can count on them to keep it to themselves…" Kojo started. "Hopefully we won't have to worry about anything else."_

" _Well… actually," Summer started. "I was thinking. I think I need to let my alliance know that we're together. That way they won't hate me and they'll know why I'm always late for the meetings."_

 _Upon hearing that, Kojo took a deep breath, which Summer honestly expected. He was nervous about Phill and Klavier possibly telling, so hearing that she wanted to tell more people about them being together was probably more nerve-wrecking._

" _And who is in your alliance?" Kojo questioned. The two had spoken about her being in an alliance before, but Summer never told him with who, as it didn't seem to matter to him. Now that she planned on telling, he needed to know._

" _It's just Marie, Anthony, and Sabrina," Summer replied. "And I know for a fact that they wouldn't tell anyone. We're supposed to be protecting each other in the alliance after all."_

 _Kojo nodded; he was still noticeably hesitant, but, he trusted Summer. "Okay," he replied. "As long as you, for sure, know that they're reliable… it's okay."_

 _Summer wanted to straddle and kiss him, but they were still right outside the Winner's Cabin, so she couldn't. Due to this, a hug would have to suffice._

 _She hugged him, with him hugging her back. She then rose up and headed toward the beach._

 **-000-**

"Kojo," she finally said.

Upon hearing that, the three of them were initially confused, but the Eruption Pokemon's body language allowed to them to put two and two together.

"Wait, so… you and _Kojo_?" Marie inquired, completely surprised. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but… it's just so…"

"... _unexpected_ ," Sabrina finished, sharing the same feeling of shock as Marie.

"So," Anthony abruptly prodded. "Have you two… you know?"

He whispered while doing a penetration hand gesture, causing Marie to successfully smack him this time.

"Look, I just told you guys where I've been just so you know why I end up being late," Summer explained, holding back a giggle. "I'm not gonna go into any details of what we do together…"

"So, you _admit_ that you guys have done things together," Anthony teased.

Summer blushed, tightening her glare toward him. Anthony chuckled with a shrug. "Can we just move forward with this meeting, please?"

"Yeah, I think that'd be the best thing," Sabrina said in agreement. "So, who are we gonna try to go for if we end up losing again?"

"CONTESTANTS! IT'S TIME FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE! REPORT TO THE BEACH, IMMEDIATELY!" they heard from the announcement pole.

"Great… we lost time," Marie commented, holding her head. This caused Summer to feel a tad bit guilty.

"Sorry guys," she apologized. "Did you at least talk while I was gone?"

"No… she insists on waiting for you almost every time, and when she doesn't, the plans aren't anything major or interesting," Anthony replied, causing Marie to snarl. "So, there's no need to apologize."

"Oh please! As if you could do a better job of running this alliance!" Marie growled, folding her arms.

"I actually could, because, unlike you, I don't expect anyone to be here on time before beginning…" Anthony retorted, folding his arms.

Marie clenched her fists, glaring daggers at the Blastoise, who was glaring back.

"Okay, unless you two are gonna kiss, I suggest that get to the other part of the beach," Sabrina commented as she took flight and Summer started walking.

Marie and Anthony watched them leave before continuing to glare at each other for a few seconds before Marie shoved him back, which didn't cause him to fall over like she wanted. She growled at this, especially when Anthony sneered at her.

She moved past him to follow the girls, with the Blastoise following shortly after.

 **000**

 **Anthony: She can't be mad because I'm honest and I actually know what I'm doing. She's too dependent on things going exactly how she wants.**

 **000**

 **Marie: Insufferable smartass. I'm starting to rethink asking him to join the alliance.**

 **000**

Everyone returned to the same area of the beach from challenges prior, and were pleased to see that Mew was the only one there. This had to be a good sign.

"Where's Dick-tini?" Morgan inquired.

"Guest star bullshit," Mew replied nonchalantly.

"Yes!" Titan cheered. "Does this mean that we'll actually have a decent challenge for once!?"

"Sadly, no it does not," Mew replied, taking out a sheet of paper. "He has your challenge set up already and he told me to tell you guys that if you ask _me_ to make a better challenge, he'll make worse ones. So, I advise you not to bother…"

There was a collective groan among the campers. Mew chuckled at the synchronization of the moan of displeasure. "In honesty, I think this challenge is a rather lighter-hearted Victini challenge."

"Wait, there's such a thing as that?" Lassie questioned.

"Yeah, they just get overshadowed by his bullshit," Mew replied. "I remember being as bad as him when we started this series, now I'm completely fine. He just got worse every time."

"Yep," Striker agreed. "So, what's this 'light-hearted- challenge?"

"Battling legendaries in the sky," Mew read from the paper, which made a fair amount of the competitors either gape, go wide-eyed, or glare at the cat.

" _That's_ what you call light-hearted?!" Kojo bellowed with a glare. "Getting our asses kicked by huge legendaries?!"

"There's no disgusting or possibly deadly machinery on you, no possibility of unwanted sexual contact, and no Victini in you guys' presence," Mew replied. "Plus, it's just battling. The least that'll happen is that you get knocked out or knocked off."

"Yeah, the knocked off part is what really concerns me…" Sally commented.

"It'll be okay," Mew replied. "Now, let's get to this sky battlefield…"

A large pink bubble surrounded himself and all of the competitors as they all began floating upwards.

 **000**

The bubble breached the fluffy clouds and stopped midway before popping, dropping everyone onto a hard surface.

There was an enormous platform, large enough to hold a Wailord, seemingly hovering among the clouds. It was transparent, making it blend in perfectly among the cloud-filled environment. There were pitch black lines running along the top of it, giving the appearance of a battlefield. There were no barriers around it to keep others from falling off. There were two large square platforms with bridges leading toward one side of the battlefield.

"Alright, Lugias on one square, the Ho-Ohs on the other," Mew requested. All of the contestants did as they were told, moving to their designated spots.

"Where _are_ we?" asked Ace.

"We're high in the sky. Haven't you been paying attention?" Egridos replied sarcastically.

"As much as I hate to agree, Egridos is correct," Mew answered. "We're not anywhere in specific, just 20,000 ft. in the air."

"Okay, and where the hell did this battlefield come from?" Sparky questioned.

"So, we're just brushing over the fact that there aren't any rails or barriers and that we have a chance of plummeting to our deaths?" Phill questioned.

"We're immortal, dumbass," Taylor commented. "We can't die…"

"But you _can_ still feel pain, so Phill's fear is valid…" Mew replied before reading from the paper in his paws. "Now, the challenge is simple, as there are two ways that you can win. The first way - you beat the legendary that you are assigned in a battle. The second way - you last twenty minutes on the field with that legendary. Do either of those, and you retrieve a point for your team. The team that has the most points at the end will win the challenge and the losers send someone home."

"Wait, so is each team assigned just one legendary and we just keep-"

"Nope," Mew interrupted. "Victini has everything set up."

Another collective groan was shared among the cast, as Mew nodded in understanding.

"Yep. For the Ho-Ohs, since there are twenty of you still in the game, there will be four single battles, two double battles, two triple battles, and two rotation battles…" Mew read from the paper.

"What the hell?" Dhaunt questioned.

"And Lugias, it's the same for you, except you only have _three_ single battles," Mew continued, still looking at the paper. "So, I guess it's not that big of a change."

"So you're telling us...that three average Pokemon are supposed to take on three Legendaries at the same time and are expected to win?" Farra questioned.

"It'll depend on the legendary you're up against," Mew explained. "And unluckily for you guys, Victini also prepared a list on who is going against what legendary and who is working together in the multi-battles."

The cat pulled out another piece of paper, and this time, no sound of displeasure was heard. There were only looks of complete disappointment and annoyance.

"Huh, no collective sound of hate. Nice self control," Mew complimented. "You all should know Victini's bullshit by now. Maybe if you don't show that you hate the challenge, he'll stop making them craptastic."

The cast exchanged looks with each other upon hearing that.

"Now," Mew started, getting everyone's attention again. "Since the Lugias won the last challenge, they'll get to go first…"

There were exclamations of protest among the Lugias, but Mew hushed them quickly.

"Now, the first single battle will be... Egridos…" Mew started.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me-" the coffin groaned.

"...vs. Manaphy," Mew finished.

Egridos remained silent for a while. "Okay, maybe this won't be that bad."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Mew remarked with a shrug, going down the list of pairings. "Alright, let me get Manaphy here…"

"No need," the pink feline heard as he looked on one side of the large platform and saw the blue sea slug standing on one side.

He was surprised to see her there already, as he hadn't called yet.

"How did you know you were supposed to be here?" the New Species Pokemon asked.

"Victini told us that we were gonna be able to beat the crap out of the contestants in order to relieve some stress," Manaphy explained. "So, he told us to watch the live feed and just pop in when the player who's on the paper he gave us is told to go."

"And everyone on this list is completely fine with this?" Mew asked. "I find that hard to believe…"

"Hey, when we have the opportunity to beat the crud out of someone else to feel better about ourselves, we take it," Manaphy explained. "We just beat the crap out of Kartana the other day…"

"Why?"

"Stress relief…"

Mew just blinked in response, unable to form the right reaction for that. "Alright then, uh...let's just get this first battle over with. Egridos, get over there," Mew spoke, pointing to the side opposite of Manaphy.

"Whatever…" the coffin drawled, floating to the opposing side of battlefield.

"Alright," Mew started upon seeing them both in position. "You all know how battles work, and remember, you either have to knock her out or last twenty minutes in order to get a point."

Nodding, Egridos faced the Seafaring Pokemon with a neutral expression. Being that she was a legendary, he didn't really know what all to expect from her.

Mew floated to middle edge of the battlefield, where a referee would usually stand, and teleported a countdown clock there, "Now… battle begin!"

 **-000-**

Manaphy immediately started off the battle by launching a Shadow Ball at Egridos. The coffin Pokemon dodged the sphere of shadows by floating to the side. In retaliation, he fired his own Shadow Ball, which Manaphy easily dodged.

Manaphy, being the opportunistic type, gained an idea almost instantly after dodging the coffin's first attack. She conjured up an enormous wave, using Surf, and it started crashing down toward Egridos.

Egridos floated upwards in an attempt to dodge, but the large wave crashed down onto him, knocking him on the ground as water washed off the sides. However, before _all_ of it could fall off, Manaphy used Ice Beam, freezing all of the water over the Cofagrigus, holding him in place.

She began unleashing a barrage of Shadow Balls at him as he lay frozen on the ground. This caused the ice to crack, and when the smoke cleared, Egridos was unconscious.

"And Manaphy wins!" Mew declared, restarting the countdown timer. "That didn't take that long at all, shockingly. I thought Egridos would have a put up more of a fight."

 **-000-**

"He doesn't battle well at all…" Lassie revealed, folding her arms. "But, I at least expected him to use _Energy Ball_!"

Egridos groaned as he sat up. Upon doing so and rubbing his head, he hearing Lassie yelling in his direction. And hearing the subject, he immediately groaned.

"Will you stop with that?!" he yelled. "I didn't get to use it because she's a fucking legendary and she'd just dodge!"

"No excuse! You don't even have to take turns in these battles!" Lassie yelled, causing the coffin to growl.

"Alright, Egridos, get off the battlefield," Mew demanded. "Manaphy, congrats. You beat a living memelord."

"I'm unsure if that's a good thing or not," Manaphy replied. Seconds later, the sea slug disappeared from view.

"Okay, the Ho-Ohs' first participant will be… Freezeo!" Mew announced.

The Crystallizing Pokemon groaned. "I hate my life."

"I'm sure you share those feelings with everyone in this game," Mew responded. "And, your opponent is… the one and only, other than the wild shiny form, Entei!"

The aggressive legendary beast was teleported on the opposing side of the battlefield. Upon seeing who he was going against, a sinister grin spread across the lion's face.

"Are… you… KIDDING ME?!" Freezeo bellowed. "I'M GONNA GET DESTROYED!"

"Possibly," Mew drawled. "Remember that Victini was the one who came up with all of these pairings. Get onto your side."

"Oh come on, LOOK AT HIM!" Freezeo shouted, eyeing Entei and feeling trepidation from the hungry look the legendary was giving him.

Mew turned to Entei before shrugging. "Well, that's the look he gets when he's either stalking Solgaleo, wants Raikou, or is ready to beat the everliving shit out of something, so it's pretty normal."

"Mew, remind me to tear you apart when this stupid challenge of yours is over," Entei growled, glaring daggers at the New Species Pokemon.

"No, I will not," Mew responded nonchalantly before looking over and seeing that Freezeo wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Freezeo, get to your side and get it over with," Mew spoke. "Victini made all of the battles equally shitty."

Freezeo groaned, as he was hiding behind Anthony.

"Just get this bullcrap over with, snowflake!" Taylor shouted. "There's eighteen more battles to go and I want to get down from here!"

"...Feel free to jump," Ace suggested. "I don't think anyone would miss you."

"...Go suck a dick," Taylor huffed, turning away.

"Right back at you," Ace retorted, making Taylor roll his eyes.

"Hey! Less bickering and more battling!" Mew shouted. "I don't wanna be here doing this and you guys don't wanna do this at all, so let's just get this done. Freezeo."

"I'm here. I'm here," the Cryogonal drawled. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Alright," Mew started as he prepared to pressed the button on the countdown clock to start it. "Let the battle begin in three… two… one… GO!"

A pinkish-red flame was seen glowing immediately, followed by Freezeo's pain-filled shriek. Mew blinked before stopping the clock instantly. "And with a single Sacred Fire attack, Entei wins!"

"No shit!" Marie shouted from the sidelines.

Entei chuckled to himself as he was teleported away. Freezeo was knocked out and seemed close to melting.

"Uh...okay," Mew started. "Could someone get Freezeo and chill him down again?"

The Cryogonal suddenly began floating, a purplish aura around him, as he was floated back toward his team. "No worries, I got him. Lassie? Aura?"

Aura huffed and turned away, as Lassie actually decided to help her fellow ice-type out.

"Now, the next battle for the Lugias will pit… Sally-!" Mew started announcing.

The ewe groaned in annoyance. "Of course _I'm_ put in a single battle. I bet that jackass Victini put me up against someone who'll annihilate me."

"-against Virizion!" Mew finished.

Sally raised a brow. That didn't sound as bad as she believed it would. She expected Zygarde or Groudon or Rayquaza, but hey, she couldn't really complain.

The singular female member of the Swords of Justice appeared on the opposing side. Mew, seeing the fire in her eyes, grew curious and was also a bit surprised.

"I didn't think you'd really go through with this Virizion," Mew stated. "I honestly thought you'd turn it down so that you could keep messing around with Cobalion and Xerneas."

"Well, if you _must_ know," Virizion started. "I still like to exercise and raise my strength. Xerneas is the one who wants poundage twenty-four/seven. I'm not _that_ desperate and I'm not that weak either, so, I expect a decent battle."

Sally stepped onto the battlefield, taking a few calming breaths. She was a bit nervous, as she was facing a legendary, but training and going to the gym with Jet throughout their relationship strengthened her. Jet always beat her, even with his type disadvantage, but as of late, she had beaten him twice, so she was rather confident that she'd put up a decent fight.

"Alright ladies, are you ready?" Mew questioned, actually showing a bit of interest in the battle this time around.

"Call it," Virizion demanded, getting in a battle stance, eager to see what Sally had to offer.

"In three… two… one… GO!" Mew announced, hitting the countdown clock in the process.

 **-000-**

The two females didn't move from their spots when the battle commenced, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

" _I need to watch myself. My electric-type moves won't do much to her,_ " Sally thought to herself as she eyed Virizion warily, expecting her to move at any second.

After a few more seconds of no action happening, a few of the others were beginning to get bored and confused.

"What is this? A staring contest? Hurt each other!" Egridos called from the sidelines, making Morgan swipe at him with Shadow Claw.

"Moron, if she keeps this up, they'll run the clock and we get the first point!" Morgan seethed.

Egridos stared at her momentarily with an unamused expression. "Hurt each other!" he ingeminated.

Virizion decided to get the battle started, as she saw that the Ampharos wasn't going to move first. She sprinted forward, five orbs of bluish-green power surrounding her, before doing a grand leap and launching all five of them down at Sally.

The sheep did a backflip, dodging the first one, before sliding to the left and right to dodge the next three and finally leaping up dodge the final one.

While in the air, Sally used Discharge, releasing numerous yellow bolts of electricity from her body. Virizion, having just landed, didn't get a chance to dodge and took the attack head on.

Electricity didn't really damage her that much, but she knew to be careful. The moves may not cause her a lot of damage, but she could end up getting paralyzed if she wasn't giving heed to her opponent's moves.

When Sally was finished with Discharge, Virizion decided to try Energy Ball again as the ewe fell toward the ground. Sally's eyes widened as the orbs headed in her direction. She crossed her arms and her tail glowed, causing a transparent red box to surround her.

The energy balls struck, but Sally took no damage as she landed safely. Moving straight forward from the alighting, Sally rushed forward, both of her arms becoming engulfed in red-orange fire.

Virizion braced herself, standing her ground. Sally swung forward and Virizion jumped back, causing her to miss. Sally continued her onslaught of Fire Punches, each one missing due to Virizion's agility and dodging. Sally needed to at least land _one_ hit on her, just so she could get a super effective hit in, and possibly inflict a burn on her.

Virizion was impressed by Sally's persistence, but the legendary knew that she was going to have to knock her back a few pegs. The two leaves on Virizion's neck began to glow green and extended as she continued dodging the attempts to hit her.

Finally, she decided to stop, allowing Sally to get one hit off, but swinging her neck and slashing at the Ampharos in retaliation. Sally fell back landing on the ground with a groan. She growled and shakily started getting back on her feet. Taking this chance, Virizion used Energy Ball again, firing three Energy Balls at the shaken sheep, knocking her back onto the ground.

With another growl, the Ampharos slowly placed her arms on the ground and started pushing herself back up onto her feet. She eyed Virizion confidently, battered and bruised, as she fully got back onto her feet.

"I'm not… done yet," Sally panted with a self-assured tone, fire in her eyes.

Virizion was getting a bit winded herself, but seeing that Sally was still willing to go, she gained respect for her. "Alright," Virizion panted. "Let's keep this going then…"

" _So far, I know that she has Energy Ball and Leaf Blade at her disposal. Meanwhile, she knows all of my moves with the exception of one. This is gonna be tough…"_ Sally thought to herself.

While her opponent was in her thoughts, Virizion decided to reveal another move of hers. The Grassland Pokemon's body illuminated white momentarily before the whiteness of her body formed two rings around her. The rings slowly transformed into stones, which were then fired at the Ampharos.

"SALLY, WATCH OUT!" Chlotz bellowed from the side.

Sally snapped out of it, seeing the stones hurdling in her direction. The Ampharos used Discharge, hitting every stone and disintegrating them before they could hit her. Once they were out of the way, the red orb on Sally's head radiated a white light before a rainbow-colored beam was blasted toward Virizion.

The Grassland Pokemon jumped out of the way, launching more Energy Balls in Sally's direction. Sally crossed her arms and the red cube surrounded her yet again, pushing her back as each Energy Ball hit.

Sally's arms ignited and she rushed toward Virizion for the second time. Virizion's body started glowing green as the Ampharos grew closer. A large, curved horn surrounded by a green aura formed on her head. She charged at Sally, head down.

The attacks collided, but Virizion had more power behind her, launching Sally back onto the ground, hard. Sally trembled as she slowly tried to get back on her feet. However, she couldn't find the strength and just collapsed back on the ground.

"And after a tough battle, Virizion wins!" Mew announced. "Still no points for either team so far."

He decided to go onto field and help Sally back onto her feet. "Alright. You held your own very well. I'm sure you made Jet proud and surprised a few others," he commented, rubbing her back.

Sally smiled softly. "Thanks."

She headed back to the members of her team, where she was met with praise from a few and silence from others.

 **000**

 **Shine: I'll be honest. I didn't expect Sally to battle that well. I guess Jet** _ **really**_ **toughened her up. Nice to see…**

 **000**

 **Carson: That… was… EPIC!**

 **000**

"Next battle for the Ho-Ohs!" Mew announced. "Titan…"

Titan groaned. "Crikey… I'm gonna be splattered on the ground ain't I?"

"Well, uh… given who your opponent is, that's a very high possibility," Mew started. "Your opponent is… Regigigas!"

The Colossal Pokemon appeared on the opposing side, cracking his knuckles. Titan, upon seeing the big galoot, almost fainted immediately.

 **000**

 **Titan: I'm a dead man...**

 **000**

"Oh come on! This is so dumb!" Annie shouted. "Titan's gonna get demolished out there!"

"Thanks for the reminder! Really appreciate the sentiment!" the Galvantula shouted from the battlefield.

"I think a good amount of you are going to be demolished out here," Mew replied. "Remember, you're battling _legendary_ and _mythical_ Pokemon."

The temporary host turned his attention back to the two soon-to-be battlers. "Regigigas, how are you feeling?"

"Other than the fact that Registeel still wants to kill me for some reason, I'm decent," the titan replied.

"Yeah, none of us get it," Mew replied. "But, let's get this battle over with."

He pressed the restart button, resetting the clock. He eyed the two battlers. "You two ready?" he asked.

"Sure," Regigigas replied in a nonchalant manner.

"Fuck me…" Titan groaned.

"Okay, in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Regigigas, having the Slow Start ability, decided to just take a seat and wait for Titan to get close enough, if he ever did so.

The Colossal Pokemon's actions confused the Aussie, but he decided to keep his distance. Luckily most of his moves were ranged.

He decided to start off with Bug Buzz. His pedipalps glowed red before they started palpitating, sending red sound waves in the normal-type's direction. The attack made contact, but Regigigas showed no sign of pain.

"Crud…" the spider groaned. He got a bit closer in order to try again. "Maybe a closer range would work," he muttered to himself.

He stopped near the middle of the large battlefield and tried the attack again, sending red sound waves toward Regigigas. Again, the attacks struck him, but there was no reaction.

"Alright, Bug Buzz doesn't work, how about DISCHARGE!" the Galvantula bellowed as bolts of electricity went toward and hit the Normal-type, showering him in electricity. No results.

"Are you kidding me?!" he exclaimed.

Regigigas remained seated, as if waiting for something. None of Titan's moves seemed to have done anything to the colossal legendary, which should have been expected given his size.

"What the hell am I supposed to do here!?" Titan exclaimed. "None of my attacks are doing anything!"

"You'll have to get closer, Titan!" Cramad called from the sidelines. "Maybe ranged moves don't work on him!"

Titan didn't want to hear that. All Regigigas had to do was step on him and he was finished. But, seeing that those two attacks didn't work, and it was obvious that his other moves wouldn't work either, he moved closer to the larger Pokemon.

He used Thunder, a beam of yellow Electricity firing toward the legendary. The attack, again, hit, but no response was given.

"Come on!" Titan bellowed as he attempted to use Thunder again. The orb of electricity formed between his pedipalps before being blasted at the Colossal Pokemon.

At first, it seemed like nothing happened once again, but, the legendary began to rise up slowly. When he fully got onto his feet, he stared down at the EleSpider Pokemon.

"U-Uh…" Titan started as he started backing away.

Regigigas' hands ignited as he punched down at Titan, only for the bug to quickly scurry away. As he scurried away, Regigigas rose his arms, the black marking on his arms glowing white.

Numerous rings appeared above Titan as he turned back toward Regigigas. He didn't even get a chance to react as he was crushed by numerous rocks, knocking him out cold.

"And Regigigas wins!" Mew announced.

"His moves were decent, but oh well," the Colossal Pokemon said with a shrug.

Titan was surrounded by an aura, like Freezeo, and was brought back to the Ho-Ohs.

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: Colossal titan vs. smaller EleSpider. Yeah, it was obvious how it was going to go.**

 **000**

"Okay, still no points at all," Mew announced. "Next Lugia battle will be… Carson-!"

Carson swallowed in nervousness. "Oh no…"

"-vs. Heatran!"

The lava dome turtle appeared on the opposing side. "Hey~," he greeted.

"Hey Heatran…" Mew greeted with a dull tone. "How's you and Terrakion's relationship working out?"

"Wonderful," Heatran replied. "Though he's been a bit sad since our show got cancelled. But, I've been fine."

Mew nodded before turning to the other side, where Carson was floating, staring in nervousness. "Well, are you two ready?" Mew asked, resetting the clock.

"Damn right, boy~," Heatran said, getting in a competitive stance.

"Uh… c-can I tag someone else in?"

"The battle begins in three… two… one... GO!" Mew exclaimed.

 **-000-**

Immediately, Heatran released an intense, spiraling red-orange fire from his mouth toward Carson. Seeing the fire heading his way, Carson yelped and his eyes glowed blue and he moved his arms forward. The attack was stopped midway before being tossed over the side of the battlefield.

Once that happened, Carson gained a small amount of confidence. But, that feeling immediately went away as he was suddenly hit by a gust of intense heat.

Heatran had his mouth open as the heat emanated from it. Carson lost consciousness seconds later.

"And Heatran wins!" Mew announced. "Again, didn't take that long."

"Okay, this shit is just going to be repetitive!" Sola shouted. "If we're fighting legendaries, it's obvious that they're gonna kick our asses and no one is going to get any points!"

"Well we'll just see about that, won't we?" Mew inquired as Carson groaned and floated back up. "Get back to your team, Carson."

Carson sighed softly as the he floated back toward the Lugias.

 **000**

 **Carson: That…. sucked….**

 **000**

Mew watched him return to his teammates before glancing down at the paper. "Alright next battle for the Ho-Ohs… Fez-!"

Fez groaned in annoyance. "Of course…"

The Proud Pokemon flew toward the battlefield platform and stood on his side.

"-and the legendary you will be facing is… Yveltal!"

Fez's eyes widened immediately. "Say _what_ now?!" he exclaimed.

The Destruction Pokemon appeared on the opposing side of the battlefield. He let out a threatening squawk before landing on the ground, towering over the three foot bird. Fez was trembling, glancing up up at the nearly twenty foot avian.

Sabrina laughed. "Yes! DESTROY HIM!"

"He's on our team!" Klavier replied.

"It doesn't matter to me," Sabrina seethed.

"Really?" Yveltal questioned. " _This_ is my opponent? Seeing how everything else went, I'd rather have the Ampharos! She's the only one who's been able to put up a fight. And she was the only female to have gone so far!"

"Well, you never know with any of these guys," Mew replied. "Maybe Fez'll give you a good fight."

Yveltal gave the New Species Pokemon a look of annoyance. Seeing this look, Mew sweatdropped. "Ju8st get this bullshit over with," the dark- and flying-type mumbled.

"Uh… okay," Mew replied. "Battle start in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Fez instantly took flight, believing that Yveltal was going to do the same. Much to his surprise and chagrin, the sadistic Destruction Pokemon didn't move an inch, though his eyes did follow Fez.

"What are you waiting for? Make a move!" Yveltal shouted, egging Fez on.

Fez took a breath before he flew toward Yveltal forcefully, his wings glowing. He slammed into the large legendary Pokemon, but he didn't budge at all. In fact, Fez actually hurt himself upon impact.

"Ugh…" the Unfezant groaned as he flew back, his head spinning. "What the hell are you made of?!"

"Pure… unadulterated… hatred," Yveltal seethed, his tone deep and threatening, glaring daggers at the bird.

Hearing that, Fez grew frightened and flew back slowly. Sadly, that didn't help anything, as Yveltal's eyes glowed blue. An aura surrounded Fez's body and he immediately stopped in place. He attempted to move, but he felt that he had no control over his body.

He then felt himself being lifted upwards before being suddenly slammed down onto the ground. Fez felt an intense head rush, and was groaning. He felt himself being lifted again before being slammed right back down. This process continued three more times before Fez was finally freed and he was able to slightly move his limbs, though he was aching all over, so he didn't feel like he had the strength to.

"Huh, normally others would be unconscious by the third slam," Yveltal acknowledged. "Oh well."

Yveltal's large wing-claws glowed white, and large rings appeared above Fez, who groaned as he turned his head to face up. He noticed the rings glowing above him and his eyes widened as large rocks began pouring out like diarrhea.

Fez yelled out as all of the rocks landed on him, crushing him. When the rocks were crushed and the smoke cleared, Fez was unconscious.

"Yveltal wins!" Mew announced.

"Of course I won," Yveltal goaded. "I bet none of these pansies could even beat Phione! What made Victini think that they even have a chance to beat any of us?"

Mew shrugged. "He just wants to see them fail and suffer. That's all that it boils down to."

Yveltal chuckled grimly as he vanished from view. Once he was gone, Mew eyed Fez's unconscious form. Again, an aura surrounded him as he was picked up and brought back to the Ho-Ohs' side.

"Lugias," Mew started. "You will now begin your double battles, meaning you're gonna have to work together to ensure that you don't get creamed in seconds, because I know you all have at least _some_ fight in you."

"You seem to forget that we're battling LEGENDARIES!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Sally handled her own pretty well against Virizion, so that's no excuse," Mew replied.

"It also depends on the legendaries' attitude and typings," Farra added. "Coupled with our own battling experience."

"Precisely, Farra," Mew accepted. "So now, for the Lugias, the first pair of legendaries you will face in these rounds is... Cresselia and Darkrai!"

The moon swan and phantom Pokemon appeared on the opposing side. Cresselia seemed to still be completely infatuated with Darkrai, while the Pitch-Black Pokemon couldn't honestly care less.

"Come on Darkie! Lighten up! We get to battle together!" Cresselia cooed, nuzzling the annoyed, stoic dark-type.

"Fuck off," Darkrai growled.

"Wonderful," Mew remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "And the participants of this few double battle are… Kojo and Striker!"

Kojo rose a brow, not really showing any care. Striker, on the other hand, was freaking out.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Striker shrieked.

"Well, I'm not, so get over here," Mew requested. "You guys should be lucky that this is a pretty fair fight!"

Kojo moved through his crowd of teammates, picking up Striker in the process, holding him over his shoulder.

"Come on Kojo, was this really necessary?" the Metapod groaned.

Summer looked a bit nervous, seeing him head onto the battling platform. She didn't know how he battled, so she had no idea how to feel.

Once they were both on the platform, Kojo folded his arms, eyeing his opponents warily. Striker was just completely nervous.

"Okay, let's see how this battle turns out," Mew commented as he restarted the clock. "Battle start in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Darkrai decided to move forward and start immediately, raising his arms in the air. A purple and black orb formed in each hand before he launched them toward the two of them.

Kojo immediately leapt toward Striker and picked him up before dodging both of the orbs as two larger spheres surrounded the ground they landed on.

"Striker, are you going to actually move or just sit around?!" Kojo inquired seriously, glaring down at the Metapod.

"I-I don't know what to do! I don't know any good moves!" Striker protested. "Why am I supposed to do? Just sit here and Harden? LOOK OUT!"

Hearing that, Kojo grabbed him again and leapt out of the way of another Dark Void attack. Kojo growled. "Fine. You know that you have more use than that, but just sit there if you want!"

Kojo put his arms together and leapt up, forming a ball of blue energy before chucking it toward Darkrai. Cresselia quickly flew in front of the Pitch-Black Pokemon, a blue aura surrounding her. The Aura Sphere struck her, but she took no damage.

Following that, Darkrai attempted to use Dark Void again, tossing three more purple and black orbs in the direction of the mustelid and cocoon. Kojo jumped out of the way, as Striker stood in place, his body glowing greenish-white.

The three orbs hit, but they exploded upon contact with Striker. The Metapod was still awake, as Harden protected him from the attack.

Seeing that, Kojo smiled. "Nice!"

The Mienshao placed his paws together, firing another Aura Sphere toward Darkrai. Again, Cresselia floated in front of him, taking the attack.

The Lunar Pokemon's wings glowed and she flapped them, sending two pink crescents in Kojo's direction. Kojo placed his paws in front of him, a turquoise barrier appearing in front of him, protecting him.

"Nice try," Kojo replied as the fur on his arms glowed green. He swiftly moved toward the two floating legendaries before vanishing from sight. He showed up behind them and struck them both, sending them both flying forward a few feet.

"You little brat!" Darkrai snapped, turning toward Kojo and charging up a Dark Void. When the Martial Arts Pokemon landed, he swiftly started sprinting back to the opposite side.

"Striker!" Kojo shouted as he dove toward the cocoon, who immediately used Harden again. Kojo held him up, deflecting the attacks again.

"Just fucking fall asleep!" Darkrai cursed, huffing annoyedly.

"Don't worry, I got this, Darkie," Cresselia said as her eyes glowed turquoise and both guys were lifted up.

Kojo growled as he tried to straighten himself up in order to protect himself. Both he and Striker were unable to move.

"There you go. Easier to hit non-moving targets," Cresselia chirped.

"I still not gonna screw you again," Darkrai replied as, instead of using Dark Void, he was shrouded by yellow electricity before firing a beam in the air above them.

The clouds around them immediately turned a deep, depressing gray color before bolts of electricity shot of them, striking both Kojo and Striker. Cresselia dropped them once the attack stopped.

Kojo growled, slowly getting back onto his feet. He turned to Striker, who was groaning on his side. "You okay, Striker?"

"I think so…" Striker groaned as Kojo helped him back upright.

"Look. If we even want a lick of a chance, you're gonna have to do more than Harden. And while it _has_ been helping us, you need to do more," Kojo stated seriously. "You know String Shot and Tackle, right?"

"Yes, but I don't think a twenty-two pound cocoon is gonna do much damage against those two…" Striker drawled.

"Just try!" Kojo shouted as he turned his head and instinctively placed his paws out in order to protect himself from Psycho Cut that came his way. After deflecting the attack, Kojo rose back up and placed his paws together before firing Aura Sphere after Aura Sphere at Darkrai.

Darkrai vanished, while Cresselia charged up a pinkish-purple sphere and fired it toward the Aura Sphere's causing numerous explosions. Kojo growled before looking up and seeing Darkrai charging down toward him.

He quickly moved out of the way, but Darkrai anticipated it and still struck him, knocking him into Striker. They almost went over the edge of the battlefield, as Kojo's head was hanging off the edge.

Growling, Kojo got back onto his feet again as Striker slowly hopped forward. Darkrai tried to use Dark Void once again, at the same time Cresselia fired a Moonblast at them. Kojo held his arms out, the barrier coming up again.

" _We have the fucking advantage. But these two have a lot of power,_ " Kojo thought to himself. " _I've only been able to get one hit off on each of them."_

He turned to Striker, who looked very weak and winded before gaining an idea. "Striker! Use String Shot on them, NOW!"

Startled, Striker quickly shot out thread toward the two legends, and they quickly moved out of the way.

"Keep trying!" Kojo insisted, catching his breath.

Striker continued using String Shot, trying to hit the Lunar Duo. With them on the run, Kojo gained a grin. He placed his paws together, forming another Aura Sphere, before directly hitting Darkrai. This sudden fumble caused Cresselia to stop.

"Darkie!"

"Stop calling me that, and LOOK OUT!" Darkrai shouted, regaining his composure quickly.

Cresselia turned back to the two and her eyes glowed blue. The thread Striker was spitting stopped in mid-air before being moved in Kojo's direction. Kojo snarled and started running toward the two of them.

Striker has stopped using String Shot and saw that Cresselia was still controlling the one he had just made. Taking his chance, he fired another one at Cresselia, successfully hitting her and wrapping her up.

Darkrai had been firing Dark Voids toward Kojo once again, so upon seeing Cresselia finally be hit, he moved toward her. However, just because she was wrapped up didn't mean she was unable to use moves.

Her eyes glowed blue and Kojo was stopped in mid-air as he jumped. Striker hopped forward and used String Shot once again, hitting Cresselia in the face, causing her to lose her control and drop Kojo.

Darkrai eyed Striker as he did his actions and gained a grin. He flew toward the cocoon, who was initially focusing on what Kojo was doing. When he realized that Darkrai wasn't there anymore, he looked around and saw that he was flying directly at him!

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Striker screamed as he used Harden, stopping Darkrai in his tracks as the Pitch-Black Pokemon struck him head on. Darkrai was slowly, but surely, pushing the cocoon off of the edge.

"STRIKER!" Farra shouted from the sidelines.

Kojo, seeing Striker's plight, quickly had his fur glow before smacking Cresselia twice, knocked her away. He quickly rushed over and leapt upwards, his right leg glowing as he slammed down onto Darkrai's back.

Striker panted heavily.

"Are you okay, dude?"

Striker nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Kojo was still on Darkrai's back, and the dark-type started moving again, which made Kojo use U-turn again, fully knocking him out.

"And in a surprising turn of events, Kojo and Striker earn their team a point!" Mew announced.

The Lugias started cheering, while the Ho-Ohs were very surprised at the results.

 **000**

 **Kojo: I don't think… I have to explain myself… so fuck it. I'm just glad that we won.**

 **000**

 **Striker: That was the hardest thing I've ever had to face!**

 **000**

Summer bit her lip, eyeing Kojo as he sat down to catch his breath. If she had a tail, it'd be wagging intensely.

"Alright, Ho-Ohs, this is your last single battle, so you'd better get ready for multi-battles after this," Mew explained. "Next participant is… Annie!"

Annie sighed as she moved forward to the battle platform. "This is going to end poorly for me, isn't it?"

"We're gonna see, because you'll be going up against… Meloetta!"

The muse was teleported to the opposite side. Annie was surprisingly pleased. There weren't any complete advantages or disadvantages, so she may actually have a chance.

"Hello Meloetta," Mew replied. "How've you been?"

Meloetta shrugged. "Can't complain. I don't know _why_ Victini decided that I was a good choice for this, though. I hate battling."

Mew shrugged. "I don't know, either. These matches all just seem random as hell," he said, looking at the paper again. "But, then again, this is Victini, so…"

Meloetta groaned. "Point taken."

Annie finally got to the battlefield platform and awaited for the commencement of the battle.

"Alright, are you girls both ready?" Mew questioned.

"Just start it up, Mew," Meloetta insisted, folding her arms.

"Alright, battle begin in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Meloetta immediately screeched in Annie's direction, sending crimson-black rings in her direction. Annie covered her head as a crimson aura surrounded her. Seconds later, the aura fading.

Having felt no harm, Annie decided to start attacking back, though she was hesitant. She didn't know what Meloetta had just done, but she wasn't going to let it stop her.

She rushed forward, powder radiating from her flower petals. Meloetta floated up and away from the attack, a stoic expression plastered on her face.

Multiple green and yellow petals circled the Flower Pokemon's body before being launched toward Meloetta. Meloetta teleported out of the way swiftly. She didn't seem to be fighting back, which was rather unusual to Annie.

"Uh, why aren't you fighting back?"

"Why should I?" Meloetta retorted. "Like I said, I hate battling."

"Then how come you attacked first?" Annie inquired, folding her arms.

"Because I wanted to get this battle over with…" Meloetta responded simply, folding her arms.

Annie quickly tried her attack again when she was busy talking, but the Melody Pokemon moved out of the way again. "You're wasting your time…"

Just then, Annie took in what she had said earlier. "Wait, what do you mean you attacked because you wanted to get this battle over with?"

"Don't worry about it," Meloetta replied.

In response, Annie emitted a bright light from the orbs in her petals, causing Meloetta to finally recoil back from damage. Annie followed up by releasing a spiral of pink petals from her head. Meloetta was knocked back, but was still on her feet.

"And… done," Meloetta said with a clap. The crimson aura from before overtook Annie's body, draining her of all of her energy. The Bellossom collapsed on the floor, knocked out.

"And with a Perish Song start, Meloetta wins!" Mew announced.

"Yes. Now I can go back and finish watching my shows," the Melody Pokemon stated before teleporting away.

Mew sighed, shaking his head.

 **000**

 **Annie: Ugh… I have to admit, that was a good tactic for someone who hates battling.**

 **000**

"Alright, now that all of the Ho-Ohs' single battles are done, I think it's fair that we go ahead and get their double battle out of the way as well," Mew opined. "And also, that way, when we finish, we actually finish."

"Wait, what? How does that make any sense?!" Taylor bellowed in protest.

"...The Ho-Ohs have more players, so they have an extra round. By letting them go twice now, it'll be five battles left for each team. If we don't do this, when you guys get done, we have two more battles to sit through…" Mew explained slowly. "So, Lassie and Pia, come on down."

The girls exchanged looks before moving toward the platform.

"And your opponents will be… Mewtwo and Latias!"

Both girls paused immediately as the two psychic-type legendaries teleported to the opposite side. Mewtwo looked indifferent, his arms holded, while Latias had a small smile on her face.

"How're you two doing?" Mew inquired.

"I'm okay," Latias chirped happily. Mewtwo, on the other hand, rolled his eyes.

"I'd rather be working in my lab again," Mewtwo replied.

"Or would you rather just be around Deoxys?" Mew countered.

Mewtwo blushed, "Fuck off."

Mew chuckled, his assumption being right. "Alright, are you all ready?"

"Not really!" Lassie exclaimed.

Mew sighed. "Alright, battle… begin!"

"What happened to the countdown?!" Pia exclaimed.

"Begin!" Mew repeated.

 **-000-**

The girls didn't get a chance to react as they were both struck by intense Shadow Balls, knocking them both out immediately.

"There. Can we go, now?" Mewtwo inquired, while Mew just gaped in shock.

"Hey! I didn't even get a chance to fight!" Latias whined.

"I don't care," Mewtwo replied before turning back to Mew. "Well?"

The New Species Pokemon groaned. "Yeah. You can go."

Once they left, he looked over and saw that all of the other competitors were glaring at him.

"Well, uh, you'd better hope they're in a good mood," Mew said with a shrug.

The competitors started grumbling to themselves. Sighing, Mew looked back at the list. "Next double battle for the Lugias… Ashton and Morgan-!"

The two were surprised to hear their names called together, as they never really talked to each other before. First time for everything.

The two girls moved toward the battle platform.

"And your opponents are… Zapdos and Thundurus!"

The sky genie and thunderbird appeared on the legendary's side, both of them looking anxious and confident, well Thundurus mainly.

"Hey guys," Mew greeted. "Looking pumped…"

"You're damn right!" Thundurus exclaimed. "Seeing all of the others go before us was so painful! I was aching for a good fight!"

Mew looked to Zapdos, who seemed to be the sanest of the two at the moment. Seeing this look, Zapdos sighed. "Keldeo put too much sugar in his coffee this morning. He's been like this all day."

"That makes sense," Mew mumbled as Ashton and Morgan made it to their side. "He's never this hyped up unless there's something in his system."

He turned to the contestants' side and saw that the girls were there. He nodded to himself. "Alright, are both sides ready?"

"Uh, not really. Shouldn't we get some time to talk strategy or-"

"Nope, sorry Ashton, no one else got that chance beforehand, so it wouldn't be fair," Mew replied. "So… with that out of the way. The battle starts in… three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Immediately, Thundurus charged forward, in his Incarnate Forme, his right arm glowing white. He got close in front of Morgan, swinging his arm, hard.

Morgan moved out of the way as quickly as she could, with Ashton wrapping her vines around Thundurus' arm.

Thundurus growled, turning to Ashton. He flew upwards, with Ashton still holding on, lifting her off the ground. The Bolt Strike Pokemon lifted the Meganium high, before beginning to twirl his arm around, spinning her around with it.

His arm began to glow white again as Ashton finally let go, collapsing on her back. The jewel on Morgan's head glowed red before firing a pale pink beam with a bright white aura toward Thundurus.

"Oh-ho no you don't!" Thundurus shouted as he used Discharge, firing volts of electricity in numerous directions, blocking the attack and striking both Morgan and Ashton as she got on her feet

Morgan grit her teeth, taking the attack. Training back home with her and Dew's mom and dad was a bitch, but it was worthwhile. The Persian saw that Zapdos was being idle in the back, and so decided to focus on him.

"Ashton, we need to take out Zapdos. He's just standing there," Morgan stated softy. Ashton looked and saw that the Electric Pokemon was just standing and watching Thundurus go wild; she nodded back at Morgan.

The Bolt Strike Pokemon took a deep breath before releasing numerous globs of brown sludge toward Ashton. Ashton gasped as her antennae glowed and a pinkish-blue barrier appeared in front of her, protecting her.

Morgan leapt on back and jumped up, her orb glowing again as she blasted a beam at Thundurus for the second time. This time, the attack hit and Thundurus had to regain his composure.

The Force of Nature glowered at Zapdos, who had been idle the entire time. "Uh, are you gonna fucking help me? Or just stand there!?"

"Uh, I think I'll let you handle this for no-AHHHH!" Zapdos shouted as he was hit by the pink beam as well.

"Karma, bitch!"

Morgan leapt up, her claws glowing purple. Thundurus turned back around, seeing that she was preparing to attack him again, and his arms glowed white. He crossed his arms as Morgan swiped him with Shadow Claw, blocking it. While she was still in the air, he swung his arms down, knocking her to the ground.

Pink petals surrounded Ashton's body before she fired them toward Thundurus. The Bolt Strike Pokemon used Discharge, charring the petals as they headed in his way. The Meganium used Vine Whip, grabbing the thunder kami by his tail.

Thundurus flew up high, making Ashton quickly release him to avoid the height. "When are you gonna learn, bitch?"

Morgan got back on her feet, growling. Her gem glowed and she fired yet another beam at Thundurus as he came back down. Ashton tried Petal Blizzard again, only to be blindsided by Zapdos, who had charged into her.

The Meganium shakily got back onto her feet, the Aerial Ace doing a significant amount of damage. Thundurus gave the bird a look of vexation. "Nice to see you finally participating!"

"Fuck off!" Zapdos growled as he used Thunderbolt, striking both Ashton and Morgan.

The two girls winced and clenched their teeth as the attack subsided. Morgan fired another beam from the gem on her head, striking Zapdos square in the chest.

Thundurus took a deep breath before spewing multiple globs of sludge toward the two of them. Ashton's antennae glowed as the pinkish-blue barrier appeared before her and Morgan again, protecting them.

The Persian rushed from behind the barrier before leaping forward, only to be struck by another Discharge. Morgan landed hard on the ground, groaning.

Ashton used Vine Whip on Zapdos' leg, surprising him as he looked at Morgan. In response, Zapdos used Thunderbolt, shocking Ashton. It didn't do a lot, but it still caused a fair amount of damage.

Morgan got back on her feet slowly, glowering at the electric- and flying-types. She finally leapt at Thundurus, surrounding him in a thick cloak of smoke, stars coming from it before electricity burst from it, with Morgan falling flat on the ground, shuddering as electricity coursed through her.

Thundurus was panting harshly from the Play Rough attack. "Nice try... but at least now that she's paralyzed… you're screwed."

Morgan growled as she glared up at Thundurus. Surprisingly, she slowly rose back on her feet, shocking Ashton, as well as the two legendaries. "That's… what you think…" the Classy Cat Pokemon panted, sounding completely winded.

"Ashton, use-"

She was immediately cut off by Zapdos' beak glowing. He started spinning in mid-air, striking Ashton and nearly driving her off of the edge of the platform. Using the remaining bit of strength that she had, she used Vine Whip on Zapdos' legs and tossed him away from her. She was panting extremely hard, looking ready to faint.

"Ashton! Come on, you have more strength! I know you do!" Morgan called, panting as she fired another beam toward Zapdos' back, finally striking him down. That surprised both Ashton and Thundurus.

"Alright, looks like I'm finishing this on my own…" Thundurus growled as his arms glowed white. As he slammed his arms down, he suddenly felt resistance. He looked across, seeing that Ashton was using Vine Whip to keep him from hitting Morgan.

"Now, Morgan!"

Thundurus growled and lifted his arm up abruptly, with Ashton still hanging on, and slammed it back down. Morgan gasped as she looked back and saw that Ashton was now unconscious.

Quickly, Morgan used Power Gem again, firing a beam while Thundurus was regaining himself. The attack struck him, but he still didn't go down. Thundurus decided to wrap this up, using Hammer Arm once again, with Morgan attempting to dodge it. However, she didn't move fast enough and was hit by it, knocking her out cold.

"And after a long, intense battle! Thundurus and Zapdos are the winners!" Mew exclaimed.

"Oh come on!" Ace barked out. "They knocked out Zapdos! We should at least get half of a point for that!"

"Sorry. Victini's rules," Mew replied. "No halfsies…"

Ace growled.

The two legendaries vanished from view as the two girls limped back across the platforms and back to their team.

 **000**

 **Morgan: That was pretty difficult. At least I was able to take out Zapdos, so now I'll be able to say I beat a legendary in a battle!**

 **000**

 **Ashton: I never really battled like that before, so I didn't really have any useful moves.**

 **000**

"Alright, next pair," Mew started. "Dhaunt and Marie!"

Dhaunt paled as Marie gave him a serious look. The Gengar swallowed in nervousness as Marion rubbed his back in comfort.

Dhaunt floated forward, with Marie following suit.

"And you will be going against… Groudon and Volcanion!"

Dhaunt froze midway as the two legendaries appeared on the opposite side. "W-What?"

"Dhaunt…" Marie said in a threatening tone. She didn't know what he was capable of, but she knew that if she was working with him, he was _not_ about to be a pansy.

Dhaunt sighed before continuing after the Feraligatr.

"So, how are you t-"

"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" Volcanion bellowed excitedly with a grin.

Mew blinked. "Alright then."

"Bring it on!" Marie bellowed confidently, while Dhaunt was hiding behind her.

"Okay, I guess we're going right into these battles…" Mew commented. "So, in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

"WHOO-HOO!" Volcanion cheered as his back arms disconnected and faced backward. Steam shot out of them, launching him toward Marie and Dhaunt, fire surrounding him.

Dhaunt floated out of the way immediately, while Marie held an indifferent expression as the Steam Pokemon grew closer. At the last minute, she sidestepped him, causing him to launch himself off of the platform.

Marie shook her before turning her attention to Groudon, who was facepalming at his teammate's stupidity.

Taking this chance, Marie charged up a blue orb in her mouth before firing it at the ground. A large wave grew underneath her, heading directly toward Groudon.

Groudon, seeing this, slammed his large leg onto the ground, caused numerous sharpened stones to jut from the ground in front of him. Marie's eyes widened and she growled as her wave grew larger. The large wave crashed down onto Groudon, who smacked Marie off of it as it hit him.

The Feraligatr slid across the ground, conveniently ending up at Dhaunt's feet. "Uh… you okay?"

Marie growled upon hearing that. She got onto her feet, rubbing her jaw. "It'd be appreciated if you actually _HELPED_!"

"Uh… I don't think my attacks will do much, but… okay," Dhaunt said.

"Oh-ho no you don't-" Marie said, picking up the Gengar. "You're not backing out of this. You're getting damage done NOW!"

"Uh… and by that you mean- WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dhaunt screamed as Marie threw him toward Groudon.

Groudon rubbed his head as he got up, shaking himself off from the water. He saw the ghost- and poison-type flying toward him and his body glowed. Incandescent pointed stones coated with lava jutted from the platform, surrounding him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Dhaunt exclaimed, seeing the large lava-covered stones. He slammed into the blades, causing him to explode.

The Gengar fell unconscious, smoke emanating from his body. Marie groaned, facepalming.

"Don't act like that! YOU CAUSED IT!" she heard someone yell at her. The voice was easily identified as Marion's.

Marie groaned, as the Marionette Pokemon was correct in that sense. "Well, at least I have an advantage over-"

"YAAAAAAAHOOOOOO!"

Marie turned back around and saw Volcanion launch himself upwards before pink and yellow energy engulfed him. He immediately landed on top of her, knocking her out immediately.

"And Volcanion and Groudon win!" Mew announced.

"WHAT?!" Summer blustered. "How is that fair!? He left the battle!"

"He wasn't confirmed to be knocked out, and he has the ability to come back up," Mew explained. "It's only if you don't have any other means of getting back up that you're declared out."

"Well, that could have been better specified!" Sparky exclaimed.

"Oh calm down, none of you have fallen off… yet, at least," Mew replied as Volcanion and Groudon were teleported away.

 **000**

 **Marie: *sighs* I hope I didn't cost us anything. Not like we have anything, but… I don't know.**

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: I don't blame Marie. I probably would've just sat like an idiot and got knocked the hell out. At least I did** _ **something**_ **. Well… not really, but-**

 **000**

"Okay, it is time for the first TRIPLE battle!" Mew announced, as the remaining campers who hadn't battled exchanged wary glances. "And the first participants are… Connor, Shine, and Frosty!"

Shine raised a brow before glancing at the Snowstorm and Bash Buffalo Pokemon. She let out an inaudible sigh.

"And you three will be going against… Articuno, Moltres, and Landorus!"

The ice and fire bird, along with the land kami, were teleported into the area. Each of them with a different expression.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," Articuno remarked with a smirk, seeing their competition approaching.

"More like easy as all hell…" Moltres commented. "One ice-type, a psychic-type, and a normal-type."

"Did you not see how well some of these people battled?" Landorus questioned, raising a brow. "They may put up a good fight."

"I doubt it," Moltres rolled her eyes.

"Alright, nice to see you guys still feel the same way you always do…" Mew remarked, folding his arms.

"Oh can it, Mew," Articuno replied. "Let's get this battle over with already."

"Sure, whatever," Mew responded, rolling his eyes. "Let's get this battle started!"

"I hate my life…" Frosty said, cowering while staring at Moltres.

"In three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Immediately, all three flying-types were surrounded by a turquoise aura, surprising them. Connor and Frosty were mystified, before they looked at Shine and saw that she had held an agitated expression while her eyes glowed.

The Sun Pokemon started slamming the three of them onto the ground numerous times, before slamming them into each other numerous times.

"What- the- hell- is- GOING ON?!" Moltres exclaimed as she, Articuno, and Landorus were slammed hard onto the ground once again, sharing collective groans.

They were brought a bit closer to the three of them, with Connor and Frosty moving back a bit out of fear.

Shine growled upon seeing this from the corners of her eyes. "ATTACK!" she demanded. "I'm sure you have advantages!"

"How the hell are you able to hold us so tight?!" Landorus protested.

Shine slammed the three of them on the ground again, holding them down. "Frosty! Use Frosty Breath or Ice Beam or something on Landorus…"

"This is bullshit!" Moltres squawked. "MEW, YOU SET US UP!"

"VICTINI MADE THIS SHIT, NOT ME!"

Frosty used Ice Beam on Landorus, which eventually overtook him and caused him to be completely frozen solid.

Shine turned to the Bouffalant next to her. "Connor… what moves do you know?"

"U-Uh…" Connor started. "Head Charge… Megahorn… Stone Edge… and Giga Impact…"

Shine blinked in surprise. She expected him to have either crappy moves or moves that didn't cause a good amount of damage. "Well… use Stone Edge!"

"But I-"

"NOW!" Shine demanded.

"Uh…" Connor started before slamming a hoof down. Nothing happened initially, but soon enough, a singular medium sized stone shot from the ground, hitting Moltres in the face.

"OW!" she yelled.

Shine groaned as she lifted the three legends up again before slamming them back down. At this point, Landorus was unconscious, and Articuno and Moltres were on the verge. She turned to Connor again. "Stone Edge is super effective on these two. Could you try a bit harder?"

"I haven't perfected any of my moves!" Connor protested. "I've never really had to use them!"

Shine mentally face pawed herself.

 **000**

 **Shine: Seriously? A fully-grown Bouffalant doesn't have** _ **any**_ **moves perfected? I find that completely hard to believe.**

 **000**

"Frosty, do you know Flash Cannon?" Shine inquired.

"Uh, yeah…" Frosty replied.

"USE IT!" Shine bellowed.

Frosty swallowed as his body became outline in a white light. A white orb with blue energy formed in front of him before he fired it at Articuno, knocking her out.

Moltres was the only one left, so she was glaring at Shine as she held her down via psychic force. "What is this, huh? Trying to act all tough now when you know that you're nothing more than a stereotypical housewife?"

Shine rose a brow before turning to Mew, who shrugged. "What? If they choose to watch the show, it's up to them."

The Espeon rolled her eyes before focusing back on the Flame Pokemon. She rose her up again before slamming her right back down. "Connor? Can you try Stone Edge again? Just because you haven't perfected it down mean it won't work."

"Uh… if you say so…" Connor responded timidly.

The Bash Buffalo Pokemon slammed his hooves down before two rocks jutted from the ground, striking the bird twice and effectively knocking her out.

"And… the Lugias earn another point!"

The Ho-Ohs glared, while the Lugias were excitedly cheering. Taylor held a glare as he watched Connor return with the other two.

 **000**

 **Taylor: So Connor doesn't know how to use any moves…** _ **and**_ **he took orders from a bitch other than me. We're gonna have to have a** _ **talk**_ **about that…**

 **000**

"Alright, that's two points for the Lugias and zip for the Ho-Ohs," Mew announced. "Let's see if that changes in _their_ first triple battle!"

The Ho-Ohs exchanged looks of anger and confidence. The fact that they hadn't won yet annoyed them, so they were hoping that whoever went next could earn them a point.

"Brian, Aura, and Rapid, come on down to the Price Isn't Right!" Mew announced in the same, dull tone. "You'll be going against… Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie!"

The Lake Trio appeared on the opposing battlefield, while the three Ho-Ohs initially remained on their team platform.

"Okay, so I'm not sure how I feel about this," Rapid commented.

"You'd better figure it out, because I don't want to lose this fucking challenge!" Sabrina squawked.

"What the hell do they expect me to do with an evil wannabe and a retard?" Aura brashly jeered. "I could take care of the terrible trio all by myself."

"I doubt it," Brian commented, folding his arms as he and Rapid headed to the battlefield. Aura growled before following the two of them.

Once they were there, Mew didn't have to really say. "Are both teams ready?"

"That's the first thing you say when we get here?" asked Azelf, folding her arms. "Wow…"

"Well I'm sorry that I don't have anything to say other than maybe 'Hi' to you guys," Mew responded. "Now, battle begin…"

 **-000-**

Azelf immediately used Uproar, emitting blue soundwaves from her mouth toward the others. Rapid dodged it, while Brian brought up a barrier in front of himself, and Aura's body glowed white. The Uproar was fired back to Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie, causing them to cover their eyes.

While they were disoriented, Rapid leapt up and fired an orb of darkness toward Mesprit, who fired an orb right back. The attacks connected, causing a miniature explosion.

 **000**

 **Brian: I need to somehow make us lose this and have it be Rapid's fault without being too cruel or obvious.**

 **000**

Aura fired an Ice Beam toward Uxie, but a barrier appeared in front of him, deflecting the attack. Following that, the Knowledge Pokemon's eye slits glowed, and Aura found herself being lifted in the air. Rapid fired another Shadow Ball at Uxie in an attempt to get him to put Aura down, but another barrier appeared, rendering the attack useless.

Brian's eyes glowed blue, as Azelf was surrounded by a blue aura. However, the Being of Willpower broke out of the bond and took a deep breath before unleashing a Flamethrower in his direction.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Brian yelled before moving his arms forward, creating another barrier to protect himself.

"Whoa! When'd you learn Flamethrower?" Mesprit questioned.

"A week ago. I got tired of Shaymin annoying me with her show crap," Azelf replied before being hit with a ball of bright yellow energy.

"HEY!"

Aura was finally slammed down after being suspended and spun around in the air. The shiny Glaceon got back on her feet before opening her mouth and firing out an icy wind with snowballs toward the three of them.

Uxie quickly protected himself, while Mesprit and Azelf were unlucky enough to be hit and frozen. Brian quickly fired two Focus Blasts at the two legends. Both of them hit, but they also shattered the ice. As soon as they were freed, Mesprit rose her arms and fired a blue orb into the air. Seconds later, rain began pouring down.

"Damn it, Mesprit! Now my Flamethrower won't be as powerful!"

"That's fine because…" Mesprit's 'hair' started standing as unleashed a large beam of electricity toward the others.

Brian protected himself again, creating a transparent bubble around himself this time. Meanwhile, Aura was once again outlined white a white aura. Rapid was sitting on the edge of the battlefield, staring at the clouds around the platform. His tail was swishing rapidly as he did so.

Brian noticed this and was a bit surprised to see that he didn't have to do anything. He ended up stopping Protect and got hit by a Shadow Ball, which didn't knock him out like it normally would.

Aura blasted another Ice Beam toward the two of them before Uxie's eye slits glowed, lifting both Aura and Brian up. The Ice Beam hit again, knocking only Azelf out. Brian attempted to break free, but was unable to do so, and Uxie tossed the two of them toward Rapid.

And while Rapid and Aura were tossed off, Brian was still there due to his ability to float. However, that was taken care of immediately with an unexpected Shadow Ball from Mesprit.

"And the lake trio wins!" Mew announced.

"Bullshit! Brian can float!" Marie shouted.

"And he just got knocked out by a Shadow Ball," Mew replied. "And I'm serious. If he wasn't knocked out, he'd have continued floating."

The Ho-Ohs were grumbling to themselves.

"So uh… are we not concerned about Rapid?" Freezeo inquired.

"Considering that he started out okay, but stopped to look at some fucking clouds and ultimate got himself thrown off, I say no…" Fez snapped.

"Meanwhile, you got your ass handed to you on a silver platter," Pia retorted. "I don't think you have the right to judge anyone…"

"This is NOT the time to argue!" Luna interjected. "You've all lost battles, so complaining is pointless!"

"She's right," Summer replied. "Pia, just use your kinesis to bring them ba-"

Seconds later, Rapid, Aura, and Brian were brought back for another force, most likely Mew.

"OKAY!" the feline shouted, getting everyone's attention again. "The next triple battle for the Lugias! Ace, Chlotz, and Sparky…"

"Hmm…" Ace said, raising a brow.

"Well, I'm screwed," Chlotz groaned.

Sparky simply shrugged. "Eh, at least there's good diversity for us."

"Vs. Kyurem, Registeel, and Latios…"

Ace, Chlotz, and Sparky headed toward the battlefield as the cold, insensitive dragon, murderous iron golem, and obsessive lover appeared on the opposing side. Mew didn't really have much to say to them, either. Well, actually-

"So uh...Kyurem, who are-"

"I hate you," he stated before Mew could even finish.

"You still hate everyone, right," Mew replied, moving on. "Registeel, Regigigas says that you're still trying to kill him."

"What?" Registeel feigned ignorance. "I'm not trying to kill him! I mean sure, I put mercury in all of his water and put a homemade bomb under his bed, but that doesn't mean I'm trying to kill him!"

Mew stared at her blankly, while the other contestants looked at her as if she was insane.

"Moving on, Latios, how are you doing?" Mew asked. "Now that Kavi's gone, uh…"

"Me and Keldeo have been talking a bit," Latios replied. "Kavi dumped him, so… now I'm trying to see what he's got going on…"

"Disturbing," Mew commented. "Okay, let's get this battle started. In three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

"Alright guys, we gotta be careful. I have feeling that-"

Before the Luxray could even finish the sentence, Chlotz was blasted by a beam of cold air, knocking him out immediately.

Ace gave Sparky a look of annoyance as he jumped out the way of a gray beam that headed his way. "Maybe you don't talk and we just fucking battle?" Ace replied as he fired a Shadow Ball at Kyurem.

The Boundary Pokemon took the attack head on, not showing any sign of pain. Latios put his hands together and formed a turquoise sphere of energy before tossing it toward Sparky. The Luxray used Thunderbolt to stop the attack and cause an explosion.

Ace used Double Team as smoke enveloped the field. Registeel rose a foot before slamming it down, causing the platform to shake vigorously. Sparky leapt up and multiple blue orbs surrounded him. He fired them at Latios, who swiftly dodged before putting his hands together again and blasting another Dragon Pulse at him, this time hitting the mark.

Sparky collapsed, but slowly got up, only to be hit by a cold beam from Kyurem, causing him to grit his teeth.

Ace's Double Team had ended after Registeel used Earthquake, and he hadn't been seen since.

Once Kyurem stopped, Sparky growled and slowly got back on his feet. He decided to start actually playing the game that this challenge required.

He started charging forward, electricity surrounding him, heading directly toward Registeel. The iron golem retaliated, surrounding herself in a white aura before launching forward toward Sparky. The Luxray dodged her attack, turning before leaping up to hit Latios, knocking him back.

He turned and saw Ace creeping up behind Kyurem, who had turned in his direction. Ace charged up a Moonblast before firing it at Kyurem's behind, launching the dragon-type in his direction. Sparky jumped out of the way, causing Kyurem to bump into Latios.

Ace rushed over before firing a couple of Shadow Balls at the two dragon-types, while Sparky used Thunderbolt on both of them.

However, despite their confidence, they seemed to forget about Registeel. The Iron Pokemon stomped her foot, causing the platform to shake again. Sparky grit his teeth before glaring at Registeel. His body was shaking, while Ace stood atop Kyurem's back as he stood.

Luxray charged toward Registeel again, electricity enveloping him. Registeel stood still, seeming ready to take the attack. When Sparky got close enough, Registeel simply slapped him, sending him sliding off of the edge of the platform. Sparky was holding on, trying to pull himself up.

"Shit…" Ace swore to himself as he used another Moonblast on Latios before he could get back up.

Registeel slammed her foot down once again, making the entire platform shake. Ace growled as he stood idle for a while.

"BITCH! STOP WITH THE EARTHQUAKE!" Kyurem roared.

"Fuck off!" Registeel retorted as she approached Sparky and stomped on his paws.

The Luxray growled, sliding his paw to the side and grabbing hold of her leg. He started climbing onto her, but Registeel decided to just jump off the edge, taking Sparky with her.

"That bitch is just crazy," Latios commented as he lied on the ground, his head pounding.

Ace growled at that. Now he was alone. But, he was lucky that both of these guys were dragon-types. He noticed that Kyurem wasn't around, but soon enough, he saw where he was. Kyurem had taken flight, his wings glowing as he prepared to slam into him.

Ace quickly used Double Team, his duplicates taking station on the opposite side of the battlefield. When Kyurem landed, he used Glaciate, freezing all of the clones, as well as the real Ace. "I'm not falling for that bullshit."

All of the clones disappeared, leaving Ace out in the open. Kyurem's wings glowed and he flew toward Ace quickly, knocking him out.

"And Kyurem, Latios, and Registeel win!" Mew announced.

 **000**

 **Ace: Ugh! I could have beat him! I got Latios on the ground, but Kyurem just** _ **had**_ **to freeze me.**

 **000**

 **Chlotz: I hate my life…**

 **000**

 **Sparky: I should have expected to be hit if she was just standing there. Fuck me…**

 **000**

"Okay, we're almost done. Five more battles to go!" Mew announced as some of the contestants cheered in joy.

"Last triple battle! Summer, Aspen, and Cramad vs. Necrozma, Marshadow, and Diancie!" Mew announced.

Summer groaned in the back of her mind. Not only would she have to deal with two _possible_ weaklings, one of the legendaries had an advantage of her. She glanced over to the Lugias' side and saw Kojo give her a small smile and a wink.

She had to hide her blush from her teammates as she, Aspen, and Cramad headed to the battlefield. At the same time, the sulking shadowboxer, agitated prism beast, and diamond princess appeared on the opposing side.

"Well, I haven't talked to you guys at all in a long while," Mew greeted.

"Why would you need to?" Marshadow questioned. "Your show is _so_ popular…"

"Hey, that means nothing!" Mew countered.

"I've just been busy with other things," Diancie said with a shrug.

"Oh we know, princess. We know," Necrozma said brashly.

"OKAY!" Mew exclaimed. "How about this battle. I don't want anything popping off between you guys."

"Pussy," Necrozma scoffed.

Mew sighed to himself as he saw the Typhlosion, Furfrou, and Parasect make it to the other side. "Alright, let's get this over with. Battle start in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Instantaneously, Summer took a deep breath, her body radiating an orange aura, before blasting out a large, intense burst of fire toward the legendaries. Necrozma brought up a barrier in front of himself, while Diancie surrounded herself with a light pink aura. Marshadow simply sank into Necrozma's shadow.

However, despite this, the move still hit, knocking Necrozma back a tad bit. Summer smirked as a flash of red burst from her, which Cramad and Aspen noticed.

"What was that?" asked Cramad.

"I used Burn Up. Now I'm typeless, so I have no weakness…" Summer said, panting with a smile.

"Nice one!" Aspen remarked, much to Summer's surprise. "So what's the next move?"

"DODGE!" Summer exclaimed as a beam headed in their direction. The three of them hopped out of the way, with Cramad shaking her mushroom and blasting the particles toward the opposite side.

Being rather inexperienced, Diancie and Necrozma were put to sleep, their Reflect and Safeguard wearing off.

"Okay, why the heck is this much easier than the other ones?" Aspen inquired. "I'm not complaining or anything. I'm just curious."

"They've never really had a reason to battle, so… yeah," Mew replied. "Necrozma's a new guy, Diancie's always out, and Marshadow's well, Marshadow. No offense."

"Thanks…" Marshadow drawled, popping his head out of Necrozma's shadow to glower at Mew.

"Well, i guess we better finish them off!" Cramad said, scurrying forward before leaping, crossing her arms in an 'X' fashion as they glowed purple. She slammed and slashed into Necrozma. He was still asleep, so she attacked him two more times, eventually knocking him out.

Summer and Aspen both ran forward, launching attacks at Diancie. Summer launched two Focus Blasts, while Aspen fired a beam of purple rings.

Following that, Aspen fired a straight beam of electricity toward Diancie, knocking her out, finally.

"So, one more left," Summer said, cracking her knuckles.

"You'll never take me alive!" Marshadow shouted as he rose out of Necrozma's shadow and leapt off of platform.

The girls were surprised and turned to Mew, who had a perturbed expression on his face, his right eye twitching. "OKAY! The Ho-Ohs win a battle!"

Summer smiled to herself, as did Aspen and Cramad.

 **000**

 **Summer: So, both Kojo and I have defeated a legendary. Hmm… I wonder who's stronger. We'll have to find that out.**

 **000**

 **Cramad: I took down a Necrozma! Yes!**

 **000**

"Alright, four rotation battles remain…" Mew said. "This is going to be much different, so let me adjust the battlefield really quick."

Mew turned a knob before realizing that he hadn't be resetting the clock again. He looked around before just ignoring it. They hadn't noticed, so he decided to just continue on, regardless of the clock. After twisting the knob, a large, triangular platform rose from the base of each side of the battlefield. There were two arrow buttons on each point. The platforms were both relatively close to the middle line of the battlefield platform.

"Okay, now, this time it's gonna take some coordination and communication, because you _each_ control the direction that the platform spins," Mew explained. "One slip up could cost you."

The remaining contestants exchanged looks of nervousness.

"Now, the first participants for the Lugias are… Farra, Vixen, and Taylor!"

Taylor scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Cocoon fucker and unfaithful wife?!"

Vixen twitched, while Farra rolled her eyes. "You act like it's a pleasure being with a closeted jackass…" Farra jeered.

"I AIN'T GAY!" Taylor snapped with a glare.

Chlotz sighed as the three of them headed to the battlefield, hopping onto the spinner. "We're doomed."

"And you will facing against… Reshiram, Regice, and your mascot… Lugia!"

The large, white dragoness, the nonsensical iceberg golem, and the secretive beast were teleported onto the triangular platform.

"Uh… I'm not sure how I feel about this," Reshiram said, as she was the one facing Farra at the moment. "I don't really know if this will be-"

"Battle begin!" Mew interrupted, wanting to just end the challenge.

 **-000-**

Reshiram huffed, glaring toward Mew, who shrugged. She rolled her eyes before an orange orb of fire formed in her maw, two rings around it, before firing it down, causing an explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Farra was completely knocked out, and Vixen and Taylor were both very weakened and covered in soot.

"Hmm, not bad," Reshiram complimented to herself, seeing the damage she caused.

"Uh, can I have a turn?" asked Lugia.

Regice only emitted beeps, which nobody could understand other than Registeel. So, Reshiram stepped on the left arrow, giving Lugia a chance. The platform spun on its own, as neither Vixen nor Taylor stepped on it. Vixen was now the one in front of Lugia.

The Diving Pokemon used Aeroblast, showing no mercy as she blasted both Vixen and Taylor off of the platform.

"And Reshiram, Lugia, and Regice win!" Mew announced. "That was pretty quick…"

 **000**

 **Farra: Fuck...Rotation battles!**

 **000**

 **Vixen: Yes. Put us** _ **directly**_ **in front of the large legendary Pokemon. That won't guarantee near instantaneous knockouts at** _ **all**_ **…**

 **000**

 **Taylor: I wish Rex was here…**

 **000**

"Okay, for the Ho-Ohs. The participants are… Anthony, Luna, and Klavier!"

None of them said anything, though after seeing what happened to the other team, they were rather nervous. They went toward the platform.

"And your opponents… Raikou, Suicune, and Rayquaza!"

The saber-toothed tiger, cheetah, and large, serious flying serpent appeared on the spinning platform.

"Jeez! Damn it Rayquaza, can't you just let your body slink off?!" Suicune complained, as the large dragon's body was draped around the entire top of the platform.

"Oh, well I'm sorry that I'm large…" Rayquaza retorted sarcastically before turning to Mew. "Can you just hurry this up? Zygarde's waiting me back at the hall and I'd like to finish what we started."

"Oh Arceus, do we really need to hear that?" Raikou questioned.

"Coming from the guy who's fucked both Entei and Suicune, but insists that he's straight…"

"Oh screw off," Raikou muttered. "You act like it's all the time. He's moved on to Solgaleo now."

"Alright!" Mew bellowed. "We're not gonna get into this. In three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Raikou used Thunder immediately, shocking Anthony harshly. In response, the Blastoise got ready to fire an intense stream of water, but the Thunder Pokemon hit the right arrow on the spinner point, changing it to Rayquaza.

"WHAT THE HELL, RAIKOU?!" Rayquaza growled before he simply swung his large body, sending both Anthony and Luna off of the battlefield.

Klavier had hovered up to avoid the blow, but was now faced with the fact that he had three legendaries in front of him… and he was only effective against one of them.

The platform spun him in front of Rayquaza, who glowered down at the Fang Scorpion Pokemon intimidatingly. Klavier swallowed in nervousness, gazing up at the large, green serpent.

However, he found himself feeling a tad bit better as Rayquaza pressed the right arrow button with his claws. Their platform turned, bring Suicune in front of him.

"Hello…" she greeted, a slight bit of cockiness in her voice.

"Uh… h-"

Suicune blasted a multicolored beam at the ground- and flying-type, knocking him out cold. She giggled in the aftermath.

"You could have at least let him finish his sentence," Raikou chuckled.

Suicune rolled her eyes playfully.

"And Raikou, Suicune, and Rayquaza win!" Mew announced. "Now you can go, Rayquaza."

"Thank you…" Rayquaza said exasperatedly.

Mew teleported the three legendaries away.

 **000**

 **Anthony: Okay, these rotation battles are just gonna result in everyone failing. We're** _ **right**_ **in front of them!**

 **000**

 **Luna: Typical, I don't get to do anything to prove my worth because of bullshit. I'm tired of this!**

 **000**

 **Gliscor: Fuck… me…**

 **000**

"Alright, next rotation battle-!"

"Oh come on!" he heard Sally exclaimed. "All of these rotation battles are gonna end up having the exact same result because you have them directly in front of each other!"

"Yeah! Either separate them or just give the fucking Lugias the win, because I don't feel like getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter!" Phill exclaimed.

"Pretty sure that'd happen regardless of the type of battle, but-" Taylor started.

"FUCK OFF!"

"Okay, okay," Mew replied, trying to calm the situation. "I see that you guys have concerns, and I will address them right now.

Mew touched the pad next to the clock reset button and dragged a finger across it. Both platforms moved further away from each other until they were each in the middle on their side. "Is that better?"

No one said anything, though dirty looks were exchanged.

"Good. Now, I want to get this over with and avoid you all getting a worse challenge next time, so let's just get this over with," Mew commented. "Last battle for the Lugias… Holly, Amethyst, and Sola…"

Sola wasn't that surprised. They were the only ones left. The only thing worrying her was the fact that they were 'kind', 'nervous' types. She decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and went toward the platform.

"And you will be going against…" Mew started before breathing out a sigh. "Celebi… Jirachi… and Shaymin."

On cue, the feline's ex, Victini's ex, and Victini's current girlfriend appeared and took their places on the platform.

"Hey girls…" Mew greeted, sounding rather awkward. "How uh… how're you all doing?"

"Me and Jirachi are fine," Celebi replied. "You should ask Shaymin; she's the one dating Victini now."

"Come on. You guys are exaggerating. He's been a gentleman and he's been chill and fun around me," Shaymin defended. "I mean, we all have our faults…"

"Yes, but Victini's faults are _major_ ," Jirachi replied. "He was the exact way with me at first, but then he started getting annoying, then infuriating, and then he fired a cannon at my television because I didn't want to make him any cookies. After that, fuck him..."

"What's with the sudden interest in Victini anyway? We've all known each other for years and not once have you shown-"

"Girls, uh…" Mew interrupted. "As much as I'd love to hear more about this, you have to fight now."

"Duh. Victini already filled us all in," Celebi replied, rolling her eyes. " _Typical follower_ …"

Mew grumbled to himself. "Alright. Let's get this battle started. In three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Celebi, being in the front, fired a barrage of leaves towards the opposing side. Being that Sola was in the front, she pressed the right button, turning to Holly, who gasped as the leaves slashed and spun her about.

Holly growled. "Sola! We need to _talk_ first!"

"Sorry, I acted on impulse!" Sola defended.

Holly flew upwards and flapped her wings, sending light blue saw disc energy blades towards the Time Travel Pokemon. Celebi pressed the left arrow with her foot, rotating and putting Jirachi in her place. Being that she was a steel-type, she was able to take the attack with ease. Jirachi hit the left arrow button again, putting Shaymin, who was in her Sky Form, in her place.

Shaymin blew a kiss, sending numerous hearts in Holly's direction.

"Amethyst, use Ice beam on the hearts!" Holly shouted , pressing the right arrow button.

Amethyst yelped and quickly hit the right arrow button again, button Sola back in the forefront. The hearts hit their mark, confusing Sola.

"Amy! You could have stopped it!"

"Sorry," she meekly replied.

Holly groaned. "Sola, you okay?"

Sola groaned, having trouble keeping her balance and hitting the left arrow button, sending Amethyst back out front.

Shaymin's petal on her neck started absorbing pollutants, eventually turning dark purple. Her body glowed light green and her petal turned pink before fired at Amethyst, who swiftly clicked the right button, causing Sola to take the Seed Flare attack.

When the smoke cleared from the explosion, the Absol was unconscious. "Sola!" Holly exclaimed in concern.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Amethyst repeated, trembling. "I'm messing everything up!"

Their platform turned, putting the Amaura in the front, causing her to tense up even more.

"Well, I got a point!" Shaymin chirped giddily.

"Nice one," Jirachi complimented. "Mind if I get back in control?"

"Go for it, dudette!" Shaymin said as she pressed the right arrow button, putting the Wish Pokemon back in the forefront.

"It's okay Amy, you'll be okay," Holly comforted, rubbing her back.

Jirachi's body started to glow silver. She then started to glow a very bright light and float started letting off multicolored pulses. Finally, she let off an explosion and a meteor shower began.

Holly looked up and her eyes widened. "Oh no…"

Amethyst looked up and saw what was coming. The meteors struck the entire platform, causing numerous explosions that knocked them both out.

"And...Shaymin, Jirachi, and Celebi win… _with Celebi barely doing anything, as usual!"_ he mumbled to himself.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Seeya," Mew said as he teleported the three girls away.

"Wow… you _are_ a pussy," Egridos commented.

"Quiet Egridos, this is why no one likes you anymore," Mew replied. "I don't know why they did in the first place."

Egridos rolled his eyes.

 **000**

 **Egridos: People can hate me all they want. I'm still getting paid!**

 **000**

As the girls went back to their team, Marion, Sabrina, and Phill decided to cut out the middleman and just start heading to the platform.

"And the final battle… Marion, Sabrina, and Phill," Mew said as they each took a spot. "You all will be going against… Keldeo… Deoxys… and Magearna!"

The fun crazed horse, scientist, and sassy maid appeared on their respective platforms.

"And how are you guys feeling?" Mew asked. "Last battles of the day!"

"I want to go back to the Hall…" Deoxys drawled.

"Same," Magearna replied.

"I shall defeat all my enemies; I am loaded up on mom's tacos and I'm ready for battle!" Keldeo said happily.

"...Okay then," Mew responded. "Let's get this over with, then. Battle start in three… two… one… GO!"

 **-000-**

Immediately Keldeo leapt off of his platform and rushed to the opposing side, where Phill was the first one. His horn extended and started to glow.

Phill stepped on the left arrow button just as he tried to hit him, making him _not_ hit Marion due to her being a ghost-type. In response, Marion's eyes glowed purple and red before she launched Keldeo back, using Hex.

Keldeo climbed back onto the platform, a bit shaken, but okay. "I'm gonna get your for that!"

He turned around and blasted high pressure hot water toward them. Marion immediately hit the right arrow button, making Phill come back out and take the Scald attack.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" Phill exclaimed, stomping his right foot. "ARCEUS! DAMN IT!"

"Marion, we need to work together!"

"I know that, but we-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Phill screamed as he suddenly flew off the platform.

They turned back and saw that Keldeo had run back up, his body glowing yellow and his horn being huge.

Keldeo quickly rushed back to his platform as Sabrina was brought to the front. Sabrina took flight after the Colt Pokemon. She pulled her wings in and dove down directly behind him as he made it back to his platform. The water- and fighting-type hit the right arrow button, seeing Deoxys out front.

Without skipping a beat, Deoxys held her right hand out, stopping Sabrina mid-flight. After a few seconds, she slammed the Staraptor down thrice before launching her back toward Marion.

The head-on collision knocked both out both girls.

"And Deoxys, Keldeo, and Magearna are the winners!"

"I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything," Magearna commented, folding her arms.

"So, with two victories to one, THE LUGIAS WIN TODAY'S CHALLENGE!"

The Loser Lugias began cheering, while the Horrible Ho-Ohs lived up to their name, and groaned in agitation.

"Ho-Ohs, I'll be seeing you all at elimination tonight," Mew announced.

 **000**

 **Brian: Excellent, now I have to do is convince these wretched fools to eliminate Rapid. Hmm… or maybe I should try to go for the heavier hitters…**

 **Tough call…**

 **000**

"Well?" asked Marie. "Who are we canning tonight?"

"Obviously not any of us," Anthony commented. "Judging by today's performances, I think that the ones who barely put up a fight need to be on the chopping block. Freezeo, Titan, Fez-"

"Fez. There, case closed," Sabrina said.

"No," Marie replied. "Having more flying-types can be beneficial for us. And whether you like him or not, we need the extra help."

"And why do we need to focus on who screwed up? Almost everyone did!" Summer acknowledged. "So I don't think it'd be fair to single out some of the guys who instantly failed, especially when they had an instant disadvantage!"

"Well then who do _you_ suggest, then?" Anthony questioned.

"We could always think about the future," Sabrina said. "Who do we think will be more useful down the line?"

The all exchanged glances.

 **000**

"Well, today sucked wang," Titan groaned as he sat with Cramad, Annie, and Clay in the forest. "Almost everyone failed except for my Sheila's trio."

"Okay, so now you know how strong everyone on your team is…" Clay commented. "That's important so you know who your possible threats truly are."

"But, the legendaries that we had to face… sucked," Cramad opined. "I'm sure if we had other legendaries, we'd have been creamed like the others."

"Hmm…" Clay started, folding a hand to his 'chin'. "Maybe you should start taking out the unlikely ones."

"What?" Annie questioned. "I thought getting rid of threats was the best thing."

"At this point, and this goes for ALL of these competitions, we don't know _what_ makes a threat a threat," Clay explained. "Some believe it's the people that are more physical adept, others believe that the little guys who will just slide under the radar are the threats, but there is no true dictation. I mean, look at who's won this game so far. Skore was a pansy who barely did anything first season. He wasn't threatening, and he won. Darren, basic, he was just the boring nice guy that no one thought about, and he won. MASON, he was a freaking VILLAIN, and he won. Sky, she was a mixed bag, because she was a bit bitchy and very competitive, and wouldn't you know it? She WON!"

"So, what are you saying?" Cramad questioned.

"Even though I just brought up finding out who threats are, I don't think that there _are_ any threats in these shows," Clay opined. "It's just judging by who you are as a player and what the hell you do. It also just has to deal with luck, because like I just listed, Skore, Darren, Mason, and Sky were all completely different people. Lila was different as well, she was the straightforward loyal one, which is another completely different personality! Alliances, they are something to worry about, but as long as you don't present yourself as someone 'big', then you should be fine for a while."

"But, what if there _are_ threats?" Annie questioned.

"Like I said, _I_ think there's no threats _at all_ in _any_ show like this," Clay explained. "If you think there are, then I just advise you to watch your back and be careful."

"HO-OHS! REPORT TO THE BONFIRE FOR YOUR NEXT ELIMINATION!"

"Well, here we go. Thanks, Clay," Titan said as he, Cramad, and Annie vacated the premises to head to the beach.

 **000**

All of the Ho-Ohs made it to the beach and took their seats around the fire. They had all placed their votes.

"Alright, you guys know the drill," Mew said. "When I call your name, I regret to inform you that you have to stay here longer."

They all exchanged glances.

"Aspen, Summer, Cramad, Brian, Marie, Anthony, Sabrina, Marion, Fez, Titan, Annie, Phill, Lassie, Klavier, Marion, Dhaunt, Luna, and Pia, you're all safe," Mew called.

Rapid and Freezeo remained, which was very confusing to Pia. Everyone failed except for Summer, Aspen, and Cramad. Why would they single out those two specifically?

"Well, this is both surprising and a bit unsurprising…"

"Why are we at the bottom?!" Freezeo exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah, what'd we do?!" Rapid exclaimed. "Everyone failed except for three people!"

"Yes, but based on performance and looking toward the future, you two had the least usability," Sabrina explained.

"YOU'RE CHOOSING A BITCH LIKE AURA OVER ME?!" Freezeo bellowed.

Almost everyone who voted for him paused momentarily before either groaning or facepalming themselves.

"Well, we'll just see who's going now won't we?" Mew asked. "The player going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Rapid!"

Rapid groaned, while Freezeo cheered. However, he immediately caught himself.

"Wait, Rapid could've been useful to us!" Freezeo exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, being easily distracted and screwing up in two challenges is _totally_ usable," Anthony stated, rolling his eyes.

Rapid groaned. "And once again, I get screwed over because of my disability."

"Hey dude, you're okay," Freezeo replied, using his chain to rub his back.

"Yeah, sure…" Rapid drawled.

"Rapid, it's time to go…" Mew said.

The Linoone nodded.

 **000**

Mew was with Rapid as he approached the tube.

"Uh, is this structurally sound?" the Rushing Pokemon queried. "Because I really-"

"Rapid, just get in…" Mew said exasperatedly.

Rapid sighed before looking down inside and being sucked down immediately. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"And there we have it, Rapid is now gone!" Mew announced, facing the cameras. "Thirty-eight players remain, and knowing Victini, when he gets back, things are going to be insane! So, stay tuned, or not, for more Total...Pokemon...Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **AAAAAAAND, DONE! Longest chap I've ever written! Battles are fucking hard, man! I'm not even gonna waste time saying more other than: Rapid's gone. You guys likely feel nothing regarding that, but that's fine. I hope you enjoyed nonetheless and I'll see you next time on Total...Pokemon...Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Rapid: Review!**


	8. Smoothie Criminal

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, with Victini absent from the show, the contestants felt like they were safe from a difficult challenge. Boy were they** _ **wrong**_ **. In a couple of throwbacks to a few interactions and battle challenges, this time, the competitors had to face off against Legendary Pokemon! Many battles ended in seconds, others minutes, and a couple of times, the competitors actually WON. Summer and Kojo spoke on their relationship, with Summer having to threaten Klavier and Phill to keep them quiet, while Brian started actually scheming. At the end of the day, with an astounding TWO battle wins, the Lugias were victorious, and due to his lack of use due to his condition, Rapid got the shaft.**

 **What will happen this time around? Find out now on Total… Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Due to the continuous absence of a certain Typhlosion during meetings, Marie finally came to the conclusion that the main issue was timing. She didn't want to keep Summer away from Kojo, but she _did_ want her present during meetings.

So, at 4:37 in the morning, the Big Jaw Pokemon awoke from her slumber. Her eyes slowly opened to meet the shabby, discolored ceiling of the loser cabin. With a soft sigh, she started sitting up, the creaking of her bed causing a few of the other girls in the cabin to toss around a bit.

As she climbed down the ladder of the bed, the creaky wood made a few more sounds due to her weight. She finally reached the floor and saw that Summer was sound asleep, facing the wall of the cabin. Marie gently placed a scaly hand on her side and began shaking her in order to wake her up.

Summer's eyes slowly opened and quickly took the form of a glare. She turned over to view the person responsible; her glare immediately turned into a look of befuddlement.

" _Marie_?" she whispered with a slight yawn. " _What time is it?"_

" _It's time for a meeting…_ " the alligator responded vaguely in a whisper.

" _What?_ "

" _I don't want you to stop hanging out with Kojo, but I also want you to be able to come to our alliance meetings, so-_ "

" _So, we have to get up really early instead of just waiting after challenges?_ " Summer queried with a blank, tired expression. " _We've already been meeting up to discuss eliminations. Why not use it for our actual meetings, too?_ "

Marie blinked upon hearing that. They _had_ been meeting up for elimination discussion, and there was usually enough time for other discussions, too. They could even discuss more _on the way_ to the ceremony. She sighed. " _I feel stupid now. Great…_ "

The Eruption Pokemon giggled. " _Good night~."_

Marie muttered to herself as she climbed back onto the top bunk, while Summer rolled back onto her side and adjusted her sheets.

On the further side of the cabin, Marion, who had the Insomnia ability, was still up and, after hearing the creaking sounds, turned to the direction of the source. In that direction, she saw the two starter Pokemon interacting. It was odd, considering what the time was.

No one would really be awake at this time other than her, so seeing Marie awaken, get down from her bunk, then wake up and talk to Summer was very strange. The Marionette Pokemon grew suspicious of the two. It may be something serious or sneaky, or maybe it was just private matters, she didn't know.

After seeing Marie climb back onto her bed, Marion decided to roll back around and face the cabin wall. She would have to get another opinion in the morning.

 **000**

The next morning, as sunlight shined into the Winner's Cabin, it was seen that a certain fossil Pokemon was tossing and turning in her sleep. Amethyst, being the shy type that she was, shifted feverishly in her bed, beads of sweat trickling down the side of her face.

Whimpering a bit from what was going on in her subconscious, the Amaura suddenly rose up from her slumber, panting erratically, tears forming in her eyes.

Hearing the gasps for air, Holly's eyes slowly flickered open and she turned to the source. Upon laying her eyes on her weeping friend, she grew very concerned. Throwing her sheets back, she fluttered over and draped a wing over her side.

"Amy, sweetie, what's the matter?" she inquired.

Amy sniffled as tears continued to stream down. She just couldn't talk about it, it hurt too much. Holly started wiping away her tears, as Ashton began to awaken from her slumber.

As she climbed off of her bed and stretched, she acknowledged the scene that was occurring beside her bed and grew perplexed.

"What's the matter, Amy?" she asked, padding up to her two friends.

"I-I don't want to t-talk about it," she squeaked out before she kicked her covers off and got off of her bed, sulking toward the door.

Holly and Ashton exchanged looks of worry before they followed her out. Sally and Farra, feeling annoyed, tried to get a few more minutes or hours of sleep.

 **-000-**

Heading out of their room, Amethyst, who was still being followed by Holly and Ashton. Seeing this, the Tundra Pokemon grew a bit uncomfortable; she wanted to be alone.

She stopped walking as they reached the living room. She let out a soft sigh and turned to them. "Can you guys… leave me alone for a bit? I need to be alone for a while."

"Oh, um, okay," Holly responded with a nod.

"Just know that we're here if you need anything…" Ashton said, extending a vine to rub her head.

Amethyst left the cabin, her nightmare replaying in her mind in a never ending loop. This was just so sudden and it didn't make any logical sense to her. She headed into the woods, wanting to get these thoughts out of her head.

 **000**

On the beach, Phill, Klavier, Anthony, Marie, and Sabrina were watching a battle engaged between Summer and Kojo. After seeing that both of them were able to take down legendaries, the couple had decided to see how well they could be when pit against each other.

Kojo stood on the left side, while Summer was on the right.

"Don't go so easy on me just because I'm a female, now!" Summer stated playfully, holding a confident grin.

Kojo grinned back. "You don't have to worry about that…" he spoke with assurance.

Summer kept her same expression before pointing to the audience and getting into a battle ready pose. "Call it…"

"Alright, uh… three… two… one… fight!" Phill announced.

 **-000-**

Summer got onto all fours and immediately blasted a high intensity Flamethrower in Kojo's direction. The Mienshao saw the attack coming and, instead of dodging, held out his arms, bringing up a turquoise barrier.

With a growl, Summer got up and cupped her hands together before blasting a brownish-orange orb in her boyfriend's direction. The Martial Arts Pokemon retaliated with his own, blue orb. The attacks collided, causing a miniature explosion.

While the smoke came down, Summer decided to take the chance and blasted another Flamethrower through the smoke, actually igniting it. The sudden blast of heat caused Kojo to stumble back a bit.

Faintly seeing this, Summer charged through the flames, tackling Kojo to the ground on the opposite side. Kojo, seeing the Typhlosion now over him, used all of his strength to shove her off. Once she was off, he cupped his hands and used Aura Sphere at close range.

The attack hit Summer in the gut, making her slide into the sand. Growling, the Eruption Pokemon got back up and tried blasting another Flamethrower at him. Kojo extended his his arms, deflecting the Flamethrower again.

What Kojo didn't realize however, was that Summer was charging at him, with the Flamethrower still occurring. She stopped her Flamethrower once she was face to face with him.

Kojo gazed at her warily, and saw a smile creep up on her face. She got up on her hind legs and started punching through his Protect, attempting to break through the force field.

He grit his teeth as Summer kept pummeling his shield. Eventually, after a couple more hits, it shattered, giving Summer room to attack. The Typhlosion was surrounded by flames and as Kojo took a few steps back, Summer jumped up and landed back down, causing the ground to rumble. Numerous pillars of fire were beginning to erupt from the ground around him and they slowly made their way toward him.

Kojo growled and lunged forward, out of the crosshairs, and fired another Aura Sphere at Summer, who had to catch her breath momentarily. She was struck by the attack, causing her to fall to the ground. Kojo walked up to Summer, who was groaning as she got back up.

Summer, seeing him approach, used Flamethrower, catching him off guard as she finally got onto all fours again. Kojo sneered. "You still wanna go?"

Summer giggled. "You're damn right. You don't expect me to let you win that easily, do you?"

Kojo chuckled as he continued approaching her. She got her hind legs and the Mienshao leaned up and gave her a peck on the lips. "Tell you what. How about we do this every so often as a part of training? That way we'll both get stronger. That sound good?"

Summer playfully started thinking. "Hmm… I guess…" she replied before giving him a kiss of her own.

"Alright, so what was that battle? A draw?" Sabrina inquired.

The couple exchanged looks. "Yeah, I guess you can say that," Kojo said with a shrug.

"Well, that was pretty anticlimactic," Anthony remarked as he got on his feet. "I expected to see a knockout, not a makeout…"

"Well, sorry, Anthony," Summer replied, Kojo's arm around her back. She gazed down lovingly at him. "You either get both, or just the latter…."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm gonna go explore this shithole a bit. Don't wait up…" he said as he started walking away.

The six of them watched him go before all eyes immediately sat upon Marie. Seeing this, the Big Jaw Pokemon groaned, already knowing what they were going to say.

"No…" she stated sternly. "There is not, and will not be, anything going on between me and that snarky prick…"

"Whatever you say…" Sabrina replied, holding back a laugh.

She, Kojo, Summer, Phill, and Klavier all went their separate ways, leaving the alligator to grumble to herself.

 **000**

 **Marie: Why the hell do these guys think that me and that no-good, snark-filled, pipsqueak jackass will end up together?! Seriously, we don't even** _ **really**_ **communicate outside of the alliance, and I'm pretty sure I'm stronger and more serious about the competition than he is!**

 **000**

Sally popped her back as she headed toward her alliance meeting spot. The crying and conversation that occurred earlier on in the morning truly irked her a bit, as she didn't want to be awoken so abruptly, especially if she was in a comfortable setting.

"There she is…" she heard as she entered the scene.

Pia and Freezeo were already there, with Pia sitting on the stump with one leg over the other. Freezeo was simply floating with agitated look. Granted, as a Cryogonal he always had that expression, but still.

"Hey guys…" she greeted tonelessly as she sat against another tree. "How long have you been here?"

"I think a better question is what's up with you?" Chlotz countered, seeing her annoyed expression and noticing her lack of emotion. "You're usually a bit more… _chipper_."

"Well, when you're sharing a room with a nervous wreck and her two pals, yeah. Morning happiness might as well be nonexistent," Sally replied, folding her arms.

"Well, at least you were in the Winner's Cabin," Pia responded. "A little bit of annoyance is worth the comfort of those beds…"

"Oh most definitely…" Sally replied with a yawn.

"So, where's Chlotz?" Freezeo inquired, as they were both on the same team.

Sally shrugged. "I'm not his keeper," she responded.

A few seconds later, the bushes that Sally came from started rustling. Spitting sounds were heard as Chlotz emerged, with leaves and twigs sticking out of his hair.

"Hey guys…" he greeted.

"Great, now we can discuss our next move after Striker…" Pia stated. "We need to figure out who the threats are and eliminate them immediately…"

"Uh… the term 'threat' is pretty skewed at this point," Sally spoke, her experience beginning to shine through.

"What makes you say that?" asked Chlotz, genuinely confused.

"Because anyone can win…" Sally said simply. "I'd think that people understood that by now with the number of shows there are. Sometimes nice people win, sometimes jackasses win, sometimes actual powerhouses win. It doesn't require that much thinking."

"To counter that point, I have to say that you just named three types of threats that are always in these shows," Pia explained. "A threat is just a threat, nothing more, nothing less. Just because, as you claim, _anyone_ can win, that doesn't mean that strategizing isn't necessary. We still need to figure out who is the most or least threatening and get rid of them as soon as possible if we even want to have a chance…"

"Well, uh...actually Pia, I think she's got a good point," Chlotz said. "I mean, Rocky and Esmeralda made it to the finals in our season. Rocky was a physical threat, and Esmeralda was a social threat, and they were hardly ever in the bottom two for elimination. And with the amount of people here, and the fact that we barely know any of them, we don't know who has a chance and who doesn't..."

"Which is why _we_ are going to manipulative and make the decisions for them…" Pia decided, folding her arms. "And, I say that, after Striker, we go for everyone else who has ever won a show or who has made it to the final five…"

"Uh… what if someone just fucks up a challenge or something?" Freezeo brought up. "I mean, not everything is going to be as straightforward as you want…"

"I understand that, but the idea still stands…" Pia spoke up. "So, who here that's left, other than Striker, has made it to the final five?"

"Well, uh… Morgan and... Farra… on our end," Freezeo explained. "Who from your season made it to the final five other than the two finalists?"

"Just Brian…" Chlotz added.

"Okay, so we have three more targets once Striker is out of the picture," Pia said. "If we keep going about it this way, we'll make it to the finals in no time."

Chlotz and Freezeo nodded along, while Sally just kept an apathetic, distant expression. She was beginning to gain a bit of distrust of Pia. Sure, her plans worked sometimes and they were all inconspicuous as a group, but she still barely knew her or Chlotz, and she and Freezeo was still going along with them.

Hell, they lost Rapid after the last challenge and neither of them even seemed to care despite him being an extra vote in the alliance. Freezeo didn't seem to show any care, either, which was eating at her a bit.

She was going to go along with them for a while, but she felt that she needed to have another alliance; one full of people that she actually felt that she could trust.

 **000**

 **Sally: Let's see, she's already gotten rid of Cano. She's aiming for Striker and all other players who've been in the final five next, and despite me warning her that trying to target threats isn't going to do shit because we're ALL capable of winning, she's still insisting that they do it.**

 **I have a feeling that she's just dragging Freezeo and I along so we can provide her and Chlotz with information about us veterans. I mean seriously, there are only two of them from their season in the alliance, and two of us veterans are already gone from the alliance.**

 **I need to find some others to ally with…**

 **000**

 **Chlotz: *Facepalms* I forgot to tell Pia about Striker, Frosty, and Farra's alliance thing. Hmm, I guess I can just use that as a reason to out them.**

 **000**

At the lake, the Milotic-Bouffalant duo was having another meeting. However, at this moment, Taylor was slithering back and forth in the water, an agitated expression etched on his face.

The cowardly Bouffalant was afraid to ask what was wrong, worried that he was going to get yelled at, which was partially a given.

Eventually, the Tender Pokemon stopped and took a deep breath before glaring down at Connor like a scorned wife. Even what he was preparing to say sound like they were a married couple.

"So, what I got from last challenge is _two_ things…" he began. " _One…_ you're a pathetic weakling; none of your moves are up to their full capacity? Seriously? You're a fully-grown Bouffalant and you haven't _once_ thought about actually TRAINING!?"

Connor flinched at his scolding, looking down at the ground in shame.

"And _two_ … you're not loyal…" Taylor stated, his tone much more aggressive with this subject. "You just went ahead and did with that dumb Espeon bitch said as if she was the boss…"

"B-But we were-"

"I don't wanna fucking hear it!" Taylor growled, getting in his face. "Unless you're fucking serious about making it far in this game, don't you fucking say anything. Now, are you serious… or are you just a bitch?"

"I… I'm not a bitch! I had to follow her instructions or we'd have gotten beaten and lost!" Connor defended himself. "I'm not a strong battler!"

"ARE YOU TALKING BACK TO ME!?"

Bouffalant jumped and trembled in fright. "I-I'm just explaining why I did what I did…"

"I don't fucking care," Taylor growled, swatting him with his tail. "You don't ever disrespect me or talk back to me. If you fucking slip up again, I'll make _sure_ that you're the one gone…"

Connor looked down.

 **000**

 **Connor: Why does Taylor have to be so mean all of the time? It doesn't really help my diffidence.**

 **000**

 **Taylor: *Groans* Why didn't they bring Rex back?! At least with him, I'd know what I'd be dealing with AND I'd get a good fuck!**

 **000**

The Ghoul Gang sat outside of LeGrae High School. Apparently Marion had some information that she thought would be good to share. And, considering that Marion hardly ever really gave information, it _had_ to be something good.

"Alright, Marion, what's this 'important' information that you want to share?" Egridos queried, folding his ghostly arms in anxiousness. In the back of his mind, he had no confidence in her, but he kept his normal demeanor to avoid hurting any feelings.

"Well, I don't exactly know _how_ important this is, but I saw Marie and Summer talking early in the morning," the Marionette Pokemon explained.

Egridos facepalmed himself mentally. He knew his diffidence in her was warranted. "Really? That's it? You think that possible period or just girl talk in general is important?"

"Well, I mean, it was weird," Marion explained. "It was when everyone else in the cabin was asleep. Marie woke up Summer and everything, but then she went back up to her bed."

Egridos groaned. "That's useless…"

"Hey!" Lassie responded with a glare, hearing the Coffin Pokemon express his dismay. "That information could very well be useful…"

"Yeah. The two of them could be in an alliance of their own," Dhaunt guessed. "And they're both threats, which means that we may have reason to vote them out sooner rather than later…"

"Exactly!" Lassie agreed before glowering at Egridos, who rolled his eyes.

"If being in an opposing alliance is an automatic means to target, then the priorities in this game are so screwed up…" Egridos remarked.

"How?!" Lassie bellowed, annoyed at her husband's ignorance. "The goal of this game is to get through the challenges and be the last one standing! Taking out opposing alliances is the right way to do that!"

"Yeah, but you guys are on the same team, and like Dhaunt said, they're threats, which can benefit you, because again, you are on the same fucking team!" Egridos exclaimed. "If you guys keep winning, I can get rid of the annoyances and losers on my team…"

"And uh… what if _you_ get eliminated?" Dhaunt queried.

"I don't care," Egridos laughed. "I'd be out of this hellhole! Seriously, with VICTINI as the main host this time around, I'm surprised that no one else is anxious to get the hell out of here!"

"The offer of money blinds us of any danger…" Marion stated with a shrug.

"No, I'm pretty sure we all know about the danger. We complain every time a challenge is mentioned," Dhaunt replied.

"Well we're all just idiots, then," Egridos stated. "Stupid contracts…"

"Well, what the hell are we gonna do now?" Lassie queried, focused on coming up a stable game plan.

"Make the appropriate decisions that'll benefit us…" Egridos stated, matter-of-factly.

"BUT YOU JUST SA- Oh forget it…" Lassie replied, waving his statement away aggravatedly.

 **000**

Vixen, Shine, Luna, Sparky, Sola met around the gazebo, as per Morgan's request. With the negativity and controversy circulating around each of them, excluding Sola, they were beginning to feel fatigued with the attention and didn't really care about anything dealing with the game anymore. Nothing they did mattered to anyone anyhow.

Sitting around the table, Morgan noticed their indifferent and annoyed expressions, which caused her to raise a brow.

"What's the matter, guys?" she asked, concernedly.

"Hmm… how about the fact that people around here are still childish assholes and a good amount of people inside and outside of this game give no shits about us and want us to die…" Vixen spoke, her tone venomous with tears slowly forming, before resting her head on the table.

"What are you talking about now?" Morgan asked.

"Apparently she got a call from the police saying that her and Cano's house got vandalized and nearly burned to the ground…" Sparky explained.

Morgan gaped. People hated them _that_ much? "Jeez, they act like you guys were molesting children! That's fucking awful!"

"Yeah, so now they're borderline homeless…" Luna chimed in with a fake jovial tone. "But, let's not talk about that. What did _you_ need Morgan?"

"Oh, uh…" Morgan was still recoiling a bit from that news. "Well, I was thinking that, if you guys are interested, we can form an official alliance. There's strength in numbers, and with six of us-."

"I'm sorry Morgan, but the chances of us even making it to the merge are far too low to even go through with this…" Shine added. "Cano made it to the finals first season and just let Skore win, Vixen's already won another one of these shows, Sparky made it to the final ten in the second season, _you_ made it the final four in the third season, and the rest of us will just get the shaft for affiliation…"

"Ugh… will you guys stop letting these jackasses get you down?!" Morgan queried. "You let them win if you let what _they_ say get to you…"

"Uh, did you not hear the part where their freaking _house_ _was burned down?!"_ Sola replied. "I'm pretty sure that fucking means that _they_ win!"

Morgan sighed, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure the guys can easily beat the shit out of anyone who decides to harass you guys. And seriously, as long as _you_ believe that you don't deserve any of the treatment, it's okay…"

"Oh, so if I decide to start killing innocent people, it isn't bad because I don't believe it is?" Sparky sarcastically asked.

Morgan facepalmed. "No. The reason that this bullshit is even happening is because Vixen got drugged and made out with you guys _years ago_. If people are still upset and obsessing about that, they're complete morons who have no lives. Seriously, pull yourselves together. And as for the people giving you grief here… why do you care? We're all here for the same reason…"

Hearing that made their lack of self worth fade a bit, but in the back of their minds, they knew that it still wouldn't matter. Nevertheless, a few of them perked up. The only one who didn't was Vixen, whose head was still resting on her paws, staring at the the small holes in the wood of the table.

"Vix?"

The Ninetales didn't respond, choosing to remain silent. Seeing this, and understanding why she was behaving in this manner, Morgan let out a sigh. "Well, how about the rest of you? You guys in?"

"I doubt it'll do us any good, but I suppose…" Shine said with a shrug.

"It couldn't hurt, I guess," Luna added.

"Alright, great," Morgan chirped.

"CAMPERS! REPORT BACK TO THE BEACH FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

"Jeez, how many times do we have to go to that shitty beach?" Sparky growled. "I'm getting tired of those fucking grains getting in my fur…"

"Honey, I don't think they give a shit…" Luna replied as she rose up from her seat, with the others following suit.

 **000**

As everyone made it to the beach, an awful smell wafted through the air, causing some of them to plug their noses. They continued their ways to the sand-filled coast, eventually arriving at their designated spot.

Sitting on the beach this time, was an extremely long table. There was a sleek, white table cloth covering the entire length of it, with numerous silver platters lined up with lids covering them. Nearby, on its own creaky wooden table, sat a blender.

This… didn't look good for any of them.

Mew, and to their chagrin, Victini, were on the opposite side of the table. Mew held his usual indifferent expression, while Victini had his trademark twisted grin, causing each contestant to feel a bit of unease.

"Welcome to your next challenge!" Victini announced, as Chlotz made his way to the group.

"What's with all of the platters?" Phill queried curiously. "Are we actually being fed well for once?"

Victini laughed. "Of course not. Losers don't get to eat good food. The bucket is still at the gazebo…"

"And the so-called 'food' inside of it has gone rancid," Aura added with a glower. "It smells as bad as the pink bitch's underused coochie…"

Shine rolled her eyes upon hearing that; the Glaceon was _that_ insistent on continuing her petty insults.

"You know what Aura, why don't you just keep your mouth closed!?" Ace interjected. "Your breath stinks from all of the bullshit you've been talking…"

"Hey hey hey, no arguing yet!" Victini interrupted. "I have to explain the challenge!"

Aura glowered at the Sylveon from the corner of her eyes, while Ace simply maintained his composure and faced the hosts.

"Now that I have everyone's attention again, your challenge today, in an homage to the disgusting meal challenge from season four…" Victini began. "Today's challenge is… making disgusting smoothies!"

An almost collective groan emanated from the competitors. They should have known it dealt with eating or drinking something just based on the platters.

"Yes, I know you all are _so_ excited for this!" Victini chirped, completely void of empathy. "Mew, explain to them how this is going to go down."

Everyone turned to Mew, who was texting on a cellphone. Sensing everyone's eyes turning to him, the pink feline sighed and the phone teleported out of his hand. "Nine players from each team will be the eaters-slash-drinkers of the smoothies, while the remaining ten will scrounge ingredients to put into the smoothies for the opposing team."

"Okay… and the platters are for…" Aspen began.

"Oooh, this is my favorite part!" Victini said, filled with enthusiasm.

Using a telekinetic force, the Victory Pokemon lifted all eighteen lids off of the silver platters. What was under each one caused the contestants to gag, plug their noses, or take a few steps away from the table.

"Here, we have your starting ingredients for each smoothie, as there will be eighteen in total," Victini explained as he began going down the row. "We have…"

"Gogoat testicles," he said, waving his hands over a plate with two pink, veiny masses.

"Cud," he said, gesturing to a jar filled with a chunky, green substance.

"Bruxish milt…" he continued, gesturing to a multi-colored substance resembling a combination of mashed potatoes and a brain.

"Wailord urine." He gestured to another jar, this one filled with a transparent, yellow substance.

"Dhelmise rust," he continued, pointing to a bowl of brown shavings.

"Moldy cheese," he said, plugging his nose as he pointed to a bowl of melted cheese that had a green tint in it.

"Arugula," he pointed to a leafy plant.

"Carolina Reaper Tabasco sauce," he said, picking up a bottle of the extremely spicy substance.

"Chewed up gum," he gestured to a pile of multi-colored, chewed up pieces of gum of varying flavors.

"Coagulated Snorlax blood," he pointed to a jar of a red fluid.

"An old dictionary," he said, picking up the dusty book before putting it back down.

"Sand." A jar of sand sat on the platter.

"Deerling ovaries," he pointed to a pair of petite, pink veiny orbs.

"Garbodor bile," he said as he pointed to a cup filled with a black substance.

"Coconut lotion," he picked up the bottle of lotion there and proceeded to slather his hands with it and rub them together.

"Mouthwash," he said, picking up the bottle. "Non-toxic, since Mew doesn't like ratings…"

Mew rolled his eyes after hearing that. He didn't want them to be poisoned by it, even with their immortality.

"Liquified Rapidash penis," Victini continued, shaking a sealed jar with a chunky brown and red substance inside.

"And… Zahku's toe jam."

He floated to the final platter just as Zahku used a scooper to go between his large, orange toes and dig out a greenish-gray gunk before scooping it onto another identical scoop.

The contestants just stood there, mouths agape at the horrendous, disgusting choices before them. Eighteen of them were going to have to drink smoothies with _those_ ingredients inside of them?! The thought of it made Connor faint, making him collapse onto Chlotz, who was standing right next to the queasy buffalo.

"You have got to be kidding me right now!" Fez squawked.

"Nope, this is no joke," Mew drawled. "But, at least you guys won't be in complete physical pain. The most that'll happen is that you'll get a stomachache… or acute nausea and vomiting…"

"Oh wow, intense stomach pain and vomiting up something completely disgusting! That sure makes this challenge sound better," Egridos remarked with faux enthusiasm.

"I know, right!" Victini inputted, playing along. "Now, choose who the nine drinkers will be and we can begin from there…"

The contestants exchanged glances; this was _definitely_ going to be a difficult discussion.

 **000**

"I'm not doing it, just let me say that now…" Aura stated firmly, daring anyone to oppose.

"Shut it, Aura," Anthony responded, glowering at her. "None of us want to be a part of this disgusting challenge…"

"Exactly," Marie added. "But, we've gotta make nine choices of who will be best suited for it. So firstly, do we have any actual volunteers or those who wouldn't mind that much?"

Everyone exchanged looks, eager to see who had enough self-loathing to actually put themselves through this challenge.

Seeing nobody respond, Marie sighed. "Alright, since there aren't any volunteers, we need to see who will the most suitable…"

"Well, how about we worry about who's going to have to go searching around for more ingredients instead?" Annie queried. "We need people who are gonna know where to find the worst of the worst if we want a chance."

"Oh, Phill and I can go looking!" Klavier spoke up. "We've walked around here a fair amount of times, so we'll be sure to find some of nastiest things we can…"

"Yeah, _sure_ , it's super easy to choose who _doesn't_ have to participate," Lassie remarked, folding her arms.

"Okay, if that's how you feel, what's _your_ idea on who should participate?" Sabrina retorted. "Because I'm pretty sure everyone's gonna argue why they _shouldn't_ be going…"

Lassie looked around the team for a few moments, analyzing everyone and trying to remember or think about what personal attributes they had that could be beneficial for the challenge, as well as what their species does.

"Exactly. You've got noth-"

"Dhaunt, Marion, Titan, Cramad, Aspen, Aura, Pia, Brian, Klavier, and I will search. While the rest of you act as drinkers…"

Immediately, as Sabrina expected, there were shouts of protest from those who _had_ to drink. They felt that it was both random and bias that _she,_ Aspen, or Aura didn't have to drink. And she didn't even necessarily like either one of them.

"Okay, either you give us your fucking reasoning, or your plan goes out the fucking window…" Summer growled, folding her arms in a huff.

Lassie grinned, expecting this reaction from them. "Gladly. Dhaunt, Marion, and I are ghost-types, so eating the smoothies would be pointless. We'd be much better suited to go get terrible ingredients. Klavier already explained why he's going. Brian and Pia are psychic-types and Titan and Cramad are bug-types, so again, more suitable for searching and gathering. As for Aura and Aspen, I'm sure that their horrible attitudes and rivalry with a few members of the opposing team will urge them to look for the worst things they can find."

"Okay, but looking for bad things could go for literally anybody…" Luna replied.

"No one cares about your feelings, slut," Aura stated. "Just accept your fate and eat like a good mutt…"

Luna snarled, taking a step forward, only for Marie to extend an arm and keep her back.

"Plus, the rest of you are either 'big and strong', or your species have the capabilities of handling disgusting foods, so you should be able to take a simple smoothie…" Lassie audaciously added with a smirk.

The ones who were left over were Luna, Anthony, Sabrina, Marie, Phill, Summer, Fez, Annie, and Freezeo. While the first six made sense, the remaining three were completely out of place.

"Oh, so you expect a petite little hula girl, a scrawny-necked cheater, and the always angry snowflake to be able to take a nasty smoothie in comparison to the _bugs_ , and the shadow monster?" Sabrina commented. "You really are off your rocker. You should switch Dhaunt, Titan, and Cramad, and let these three go in their place."

"Ey, just because we're bug-types doesn't mean we enjoy nasty things…"

"And just because we're big doesn't mean we can drink them with no issue…" Anthony retorted. "So, tough luck, you're switching…"

Lassie rolled her eyes. Dhaunt sighed, looking down as Marion rubbed his back.

Fez, initially not having any say in the matter, was a bit insulted and annoyed that Sabrina immediately talked down about him. Just because he had a weak stomach didn't mean he was weak overall.

"Hey, I can handle a smoothie!" he finally spoke up.

Hearing this, Sabrina scoffed. "Ha! Don't believe him. He once drank an entire bottle of water and puked for thirty whole minutes…"

A few of the others had to stifle their laughter, making Fez growl and blush. "I can do it! Just because you don't like me anymore doesn't mean that I'm not a good ally!"

Sabrina tightened her glare. "Okay. Fine, but if you can't drink the smoothie, then you're no longer allowed to make decisions…"

"Uh, isn't that a bit too harsh for a simple mistake? Maybe his body isn't built to handle certain things…" Cramad inserted herself.

"That's why I told him to switch. We both know his issues…" Sabrina stated, giving Fez a vexed gaze.

"I'll be _fine_ ," Fez stressed, returning the glare. "And sure, I'll take that agreement. But, if I _can_ drink the smoothie, you have to agree to give me another chance…"

Sabrina snorted. He had to have been joking. "You're joking right?"

Fez kept a serious demeanor. "If you weren't joking, then you know damn well that I'm not, either…"

Sabrina, upon hearing that, immediately glowered at him once again. But, in the back of her mind, she was fine. She knew that he couldn't even eat an entire banana, even in chunks! "Okay, fine. If you prove you're not a pussy, we can have another chance…"

It pained her to even say that, as her tolerance for cheating was in the negative zone.

"Alright, now that the bullshit relationship argument over, can we move on?" Anthony asked, breaking the ensuing silence.

 **000**

 **Fez: I'll show her. And when I'm done, she'll be all mine again…**

 **000**

 **Sabrina was seething.**

 **Sabrina: Okay, I did not want to make that agreement. I hate cheating and whoever does it deserves to be alone for the rest of their fucking lives. I'd never give a guy a second chance if he cheated before, so if he** _ **somehow**_ **pulls this off, I'm gonna have to restrain myself so that I don't rip his head off.**

 **000**

"Okay, so I say-" Morgan began.

"Nope, I'm tired of hearing your mouth. Can someone else come up with a plan, _please_?" Taylor interrupted. "And just so you know, I'm not going…"

"You'll go and you'll like it, girly-boy…" Egridos responded. "And since you've shut down the pussycat, let's come up with a _real_ plan…"

Morgan scoffed. "I've barely even-"

She felt velvet touch her lips. She saw that Shine had moved her tail to her lips to silence her. " _Don't bother, they won't listen…"_ the Persian heard telepathically. It was Shine's voice; she peered down and saw that the Espeon was giving her a look from the corner of her eyes.

Seeing this look, and hearing the others continue, Morgan sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I say that he-she, shaky weight, failed actor, sheared sheep, cheating wife, klutz, big mouth, Littlefoot, and feral, green Barney act as the drinkers, and the rest of us search…" Egridos explained.

"Uh, any reason why, asshole?!" Vixen growled.

"I'm the only ghost-type here. Wife of Satan, the dumb bell, cocoon obsessed stalker, and Batwoman are all psychic-types, which will aid in searching for and gathering bad things. The cocoon and ice cream man are borderline useless in both scenarios, but searching is better for them. We don't want you getting any closer to Scar over here, so you two are being kept separate. The fairy likely has a weak stomach, and kin of Ray and Mason should be able to come up with some diabolical concoction that'll help us win…" Egridos expounded without breaking a sweat.

"Hey, I don't have a weak stomach!" Ace barked out, feeling affronted.

"Oh, okay. So do you _want_ to drink a smoothie?" Egridos asked.

"I mean, I don't have a weak stomach, but I still don't want to-"

"Okay, then shut up," Egridos interrupted before he could finish. "Any objections?"

As much as they all hated to admit it, he coffin's plan _did_ seem to make sense.

 **000**

The Lugias made it back to the group, where the Ho-Ohs were already waiting.

"Alright, have you all made your choices for who will be drinking the smoothies?" Victini queried.

The contestants half-heartedly nodded and muttered their responses.

"Great! Now will all of the eaters chosen, will all of the ingredient gatherers please approach the table?"

Those who fit that group exchanged looks before taking steps forward. Upon seeing who were chosen to be the gatherers, Victini sighed in disappointment. "So generic… but, whatever…"

"Just get to the point…" Ace requested, having to cover his nose with his fleshy ribbons.

Victini rolled his eyes. "Now, you each have to create smoothies for players of your opposing teams, and to do so, you'll be finding your own ingredients and doing as much awful shit as you can. Now, for funsies, you have the opportunity to choose your first ingredients out of these eighteen choices. And, there is only one of each, so choose wisely.

"But… there are twenty of us…" Sparky brought up, looking over the people who were at the table. "How is that going to work if there's only eighteen choices?"

Victini blinked before turning to Mew, who folded his arms with a look that said 'I-told-you-so'. Victini groaned irritatedly. "Fine… because we're at a peculiar number of drinkers, I will choose one player from each team to join the drinkers, and the remaining eighteen players will choose from _twenty_ items…"

Zahku walked over and placed a kid's table at the far right end of the table. Victini randomly teleported two new platters onto the smaller table and floated over to them. The contestants' eyes followed him as he grabbed a hold of both lids. "Your two new ingredients are…"

He lifted up both lids, revealing two jars. One was filled with a slimy, squirmy substance resembling worms, and the other was full of a purely brown fluid.

"Eelektrik guts and blended Grumpig liver," Victini explained. "And don't worry, no Lowells were harmed to procure this ingredient."

"Greeeat," Brian replied sarcastically, folding his arms.

"Now, to choose who joins the drinking…" Victini started, floating back in front of everyone. He brought a finger to his chin, acting like he was truly thinking. "Sparky, since you decided to open your mouth, you can go and join the Lugia drinkers."

The lion sighed exasperatedly. "Well, I saw that coming…"

"And for the Ho-Ohs… Annie. You don't do much…"

"What?! But I-"

"No buts…" Victini responded immediately. "Now, both of you… back to your teams…"

Both of them sulked back to their teams group of participants. Once they were back, Victini nodded with a smile. "Alright now, it's time to choose your ingredients. And Lugias, since you guys won the previous challenge, you guys can choose first, then a Ho-Oh will choose, and you keep alternating like that…"

"I call first!" Egridos exclaimed immediately. "I want that Tabasco sauce!"

"Ah, great first choice…" Victini complimented as a tag appeared in front of the bottle of sauce. Egridos' name was etched on it.

"Are we seriously going to go through each of us and do this bullshit?" Aspen questioned, already feeling annoyed about how long it took.

"Yes, because it's fun," Victini responded. "Now… a Ho-Oh chooses and you guys just continue."

"Okay… I'll choose the Gogoat balls," Aura said. "It'll be interesting to see these losers' reactions…"

"I'll take moldy cheese," Shine followed.

"The Garbodor bile should be disgusting enough…" Pia stated smugly.

"The chewing gum is probably the least bad thing…" Carson stated, only for Farra to growl.

"Idiot, we're supposed to be choosing the actually _bad_ things!" she bellowed agitatedly.

"I'll go for the Eelektrik guts…" Freezeo said nonchalantly.

"Bruxish milt," Farra followed.

Victini chuckled upon hearing that, as he placed Farra's name tag in front of it. " _Somebody's drinking kids…_ " he said in a singsong manner.

Aspen smacked her lips. "I guess I'll do the sand. The texture will fuck with whoever drinks it."

"Uh… I guess the dictionary…" Holly stated. "Old paper can't taste that good…"

"Evil demands blood!" Brian blustered dramatically.

"Um… I guess the cud," Striker said.

"Blended liver, please…" Lassie said with a sneer.

"Wailord piss…" Ace said with a smirk of his own.

"Liquified penis can't taste good at all, so I'm choosing that!" Klavier said with interest.

"Put Zahku's toejam for me…" Frosty stated.

"Dhelmise rust," Marion said with a shrug.

"Ovaries," Sola said, glancing at her claws in boredom.

This left Dhaunt with three relatively bland options. Arugula, lotion, or mouthwash?

"Well, the mouthwash is non-toxic, which is good and bad, and arugula is literally food already, so… I guess I'll go with the lotion," Dhaunt said with unsurety.

"Alright then," Victini said, placing Dhaunt's name tag down in front of the lotion. "This means that the mouthwash and arugula will go into the smoothies prepared by Zahku…"

Zahku nodded as he grabbed both remaining ingredients and began walking away.

"Okay, now that that's settled, the eighteen of you can go and begin your searches," Victini explained. "The rest of you… come and take a seat on this side of the table…"

The twenty participants groaned before they began going around and begrudgingly took their spots on the opposite side of the table.

The remaining eighteen contestants immediately started scattering, however, a question arose from a certain bell.

"Wait, how are we supposed to gather ingredients with no utensils or bags and stuff?" Carson queried.

"Yeah… he's right. There's no kitchen or mess hall other than the kitchen in the Winner's Cabin!" Freezeo agreed.

"Uh… some of you are psychic-types, some of you are ghost-types, and the rest of you, I'm pretty sure you can improvise…" Victini started before grocery baskets were teleported before all of them.

Upon seeing this, Victini gaped and growled before turning and glaring at Mew, who was once again just texting on his phone.

"Thanks _Mew_ ," Aspen thanked, being sure to stress the season's co-host's name while glowering at Victini.

Immediately, they eighteen of them scurried off in search of disgusting ingredients, leaving their teammates and opponents worried.

 **000**

Farra, Striker, and Frosty went around their usual meeting area, otherwise known as the elimination ceremony area. They began looking around to see what all they could find along the shore and around the nearby area of the forest.

"Hmm, what each have to make our own smoothies, so shouldn't we be split up?" Frosty asked.

"What good would that do?" asked Striker as he hopped onto a rock. "We're still a team. And if one smoothie is terrible, all of them should be."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Frosty agreed. "I was hoping for a little more diversity is all…"

"Frosty, you have your basket and your own mindset. We're not gonna make you stay around if you want to do something different. Alliance or not," Farra said with a serious tone as she started walking toward the shore. Using telekinesis, she picked up a container from her basket, as each basket had exactly seven containers, and scooped up a clump of wet sand.

"Oh, uh… okay then. I'll catch you guys later, then," Frosty said as he started floating into the forest.

Striker looked around and then thought about the facts that they were all surrounded by rocks. "Hey, Farra, are rocks a good idea?"

The Girafarig turned around, raising a brow. "Well… I don't think a rock will be able to blend, so probably not."

"Hmm… well what else is there?"

"This entire island is pretty tacky and disgusting, hun," Farra replied nonchalantly as she turned her attention back to the shore as the ocean water drifted up to her hooves. "I'm sure we can find a bunch of crap around here."

"Hopefully…"

 **-000-**

Frosty hummed a tune as he floated through the forest in search of nasty ingredients. He had to think about what would make anyone gag.

He immediately thought about the gruel in the bucket under the gazebo. Aura _did_ say that it went rancid. That'd be perfect!

The Snowstorm Pokemon immediately started floating back toward the campgrounds. On the way there, he decided to do some thinking about the game and how he could play it better. This was his fourth season, and he'd only ever made the merge once, and it was when the series first started!

In the second and third seasons, he got eliminated rather early out of his uselessness or his failures in the challenge. He didn't want that to happen again. He actually wanted to make it to at least the merge again, or close to it.

"I need to do something to prove that I'm not useless or a screw up…" he said to himself. "But, I don't want to come off annoying either…"

As he conflicted with himself, he ended up floating straight into a tree. As he regained his composure, a red spiky fruit fell from the tree, landing in his basket. He groaned before looking down into his basket and saw the berry in his possession.

"A tamato berry?" he said questioningly. "That… well, tamato berries are usually very spicy, so maybe it'll be good."

He proceeded onwards to the campground.

 **000**

Shine already had an idea on what she wanted to use for her smoothie. She'd seen plenty of disgusting things in her lifetime both in this game and out of it, so she knew exactly where to go.

Her first stop… the gazebo. The disgusting pot of rancid slop was the first thing that came to her mind when they were given this challenge. If she wanted to be smug and take a jab at Aura, she would've just told them to ask for a bottle of Aura's vaginal fluids, but she wasn't as childish as her.

The fact that almost everyone here was still acting like immature, idiotic brats was wearing away at her nerves. She approached the gazebo, and was surprised to see that no one else was there. At least not yet, anyway.

Holding her breath, she dragged the pot out from underneath the table and floated it up onto it. She took out a container from her basket and scooped the repulsive substance into it. The Espeon could only shake her head as she moved the slop into the center of the container by tilting it.

"Arceus, this sucks…" she said to herself, turning her face away as she sealed and placed the container into her basket.

She started floating her basket up again, and as she began heading to her next destination, she ended up running into a certain Sylveon who was heading in the same direction that she was coming from.

"Oh, hey Shine," Ace greeted. "You got anything good so far?"

Shine, being focused on the challenge, didn't really feel like conversing. Sure, they were on the same team, but sometimes the Espeon just wanted to be on her own to wander in her own thoughts. Despite this, the Sun Pokemon decided to reply, as to not come off as rude.

"I just went ahead and grabbed some of the slop from the pot in the gazebo," she replied with a shrug.

Hearing that, Ace nodded, holding his basket with one of his ribbons. "Well, I found a bunch of Pachirisu droppings near the base of a tree. So, I just scooped them up and went along my way," he chuckled. "Good thing we don't have to drink anything…"

Shine only nodded, expecting him to be finished with the conversation. She rose a brow and started walking past him. "Well, I'll… see you later," she replied.

Seeing this, Ace figured that she'd probably want to be alone during this challenge. He had decided to take a break from trying to converse with her in the mornings due to Aura always popping up out of nowhere. He was surprised that she didn't pop up and interrupt their short conversation.

With a shrug, he started walking to the gazebo.

 **-000-**

"I wish that stupid bitch and twinkie were doing the drinking instead of the searching…" Aura opined as she and Aspen walked to the lake. "I'd love to see their reactions and watch them suffer…"

Aspen rolled her eyes. Aura had been bitching about how much Shine and Ace annoyed her and how she wished the worst for both of them. She understood their history and possible reasons why, but in the scenarios, it was actually starting to sound… nonsensical and more so hypocritical.

"I mean seriously, she can't even get pregnant. Why do these stupid, boring, ugly bitches end up getting the hunks with meat slabs, while the rest of us are stuck with pansies and fucking losers?!" Aura exclaimed.

Aspen stopped walking, closing her eyes. "Aura… we need to talk," the Furfrou stated with a serious demeanor.

Hearing this, Aura, who hadn't noticed her friend stop walking, paused and turned around. "Uh, alright. About what?"

"This… _obsession_ you have with Shine and Ace. Why do you keep putting them down?" Aspen inquired. "Especially since it's beginning to sound like you've been the one instigating everything in the first place…"

Aura scoffed. Was she serious? "Uh… I put them down because they deserve it," Aura responded. "Shine is a boring, unattractive bitch that doesn't even deserve the life she has. And everyone has the nerve to get mad at me because I'm a better option and I make it well known."

Aspen sighed. "And what did Ace do?"

"That faggot's ruining my son," Aura spat venomously. "I don't approve of his bullshit and I don't like it in my house…"

"But, isn't his father gay?"

"They don't live in my house do they? So why should I care what they do? Plus, they're grown adults…"

Aspen, upon hearing that, twitched. "So, you had nonconsensual sex with a gay male, had his son, who gets to hang around them, and you're upset that he's doing the same thing… so you talk shit to the one he loves?"

"If I keep doing it, he'll eventually leave my son alone and he can live a normal life…" Aura said with a shrug.

"Aura…" Aspen groaned. "There's no such thing as a normal life! And you trying to break up your son's relationship is just plain wrong!"

"Aspen, I'm his mother, so _I_ know what's best for him. And I'm sorry, but didn't you say that you and your man weren't trying to have kids? So why do you care so much?"

Aspen sighed. "Look, I'm trying not to rip my ears off hearing you belittle and annoy the two of them every fucking day that we're here. I want to be friends, but you really need to lay off. Leave Shine and Ace alone and maybe try to actually get along with others and contribute positively..."

And with that, the Furfrou continued walking toward their destination. Aura, hearing all of them, rolled her eyes and followed her.

 **000**

 **Aura: Pfft! What does** _ **she**_ **know? My son loves me, so I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure things go right for him.**

 **That twink won't do anything but be a hindrance on him. I just know it...**

 **000**

The Ghoul Gang met right back up in front of LeGrae High School.

"Alright, this is going to be awesome!" Egridos chuckled. "I get to potentially poison somebody."

"Uh… why are you happy about that?" Dhaunt questioned, feeling a bit perturbed about his sudden enthusiasm.

Egridos gave him a look. "I'm not; I was being sarcastic. This challenge is lame. They literally just have us grocery shopping on this stupid island so that we can most likely poison others and get them sick…"

"Yeah, I thought this challenge would be more I dunno… _challenging..._." Lassie agreed. "But, hey, we'll get to see their reactions. That'll be amusing…"

There was a brief moment of silence, which Marion swiftly broke with a question.

"So, uh… what are we going to look for?" Marion queried. "We already have one nasty ingredient from the table back at the beach, so what should we add?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm just gonna go around and find random shit that people don't really eat," Egridos stated. "But, if you want, feel free to be nice…"

Hearing that, Lassie gave him a look. "Uh-huh, sure…" she responded. "We'll be nice with regards to our smoothies, and you just be as nasty as you want. _That_ should give your team the win…"

"Great! Glad to see we're on the same page…" Egridos replied before he started floating off. Lassie grumbled to herself, rolling her eyes.

"Uh… so are we or are we not being nice?" Dhaunt queried, feeling confused.

"No!" Lassie exclaimed before facepalming. "We need to make sure that what we decide to use doesn't go well together and is sure to get them sick."

"Uh… alright then, gotcha," Dhaunt nodded.

Lassie rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna see what junk they have in this school…" she said, floating into the school.

Once the Froslass entered the room, Marion and Dhaunt exchanged looks. "Well uh… do we follow her or-"

"Babe, we just need to find gross things to put in the smoothies. It's not rocket science, dude," Marion said, patting his back before starting to walk forward.

As Dhaunt was left alone, he groaned. "Why the hell am I so lost today?!"

The Gengar decided to just follow Lassie's example and search the school. Maybe the old building had old, rotted foods in the cafeteria.

 **000**

Carson and Holly were searching together, floating rather aimlessly around the island. Knowing what the challenge was, the two were rather hesitant to do it. However, they knew that not participating in the challenge meant that they were definitely be targets for elimination.

As the two floated toward the mountains, Carson let out a sigh, getting Holly's attention. The two had been rather quiet, not really knowing what to talk about.

"What's up, Carson?" Holly queried.

"I don't know how I feel about doing this…" he replied, holding his basket of empty containers. "I mean, there's not a lot that we can really find, and even then, it still feels wrong."

Holly sighed. "I know how you feel, hon. But hey, there's a certain way we can go about this.."

"There is?"

"It's whatever _we_ decide to put in the smoothies. And as long as it's abnormal and weird, we should be fine…" Holly said.

"But, if that's the case, why'd we have to come all the way here?" Carson asked, feeling confused.

"Because I usually come up with ideas or at least make sense of situations when out walking," the Swoobat explained as she began turning around. "Now, follow me…"

Carson didn't argue with the motherly figure, choosing to simply float behind her as she led him to wherever she was heading.

 **-000-**

The Courting Pokemon led him back to the Winner's Cabin, causing a bit more confusion.

"Uh… why are we back at the Winner's Cabin?" Carson asked in befuddlement.

Holly placed her basket down at the doorstep and attempted to open the door, only to discover that it was locked. She cursed to herself. "They locked it?" she asked herself, tugging on the door a few more times.

The Swoobat then sighed, understanding the possible reason. Victini wouldn't want anyone to escape his torturous challenges, so locking the cabins made sense for him.

She breathed out a sigh of dismay, moving away from the door. "Well, there goes that idea…"

"And… what _was_ the idea exactly?" Carson asked, still completely lost as to why they were there.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go in here, grab a bunch of condiments, get some dirt and stuff, and mix them together that way," Holly explained. "Not all condiments are good together, and I'm sure that the other food in there will mix poorly."

"Oh, well… we can just use kinesis and teleport some of the things out…" Carson said, floating to the window to the right side of the door. "I can see a few cereal boxes on the top of the fridge and the salt and pepper shakers on the table…"

"Perfect!" Holly exclaimed. "Go for it!"

Using telekinesis, Carson levitated the cereal, as well as the salt and pepper, to the window they were behind. Carson then teleported them onto the other side of the window, into their possession.

"Perfect!" Holly said. "Okay, so, I'll take the salt and the Razz Balls, and you take the pepper and Cornflakes…"

"Uh… okay," said Carson, handing the Swoobat the items she called. "Wait, do we _have_ to fill up everything?"

"I doubt it. It's just what we want to be in the smoothies…" Holly replied. Then, a thought entered her head. "Hmmm… I really wish we could get in there. Ketchup, mustard, relish, Rapidash-radish, those would have been great for this!"

"Oh well, let's just head back to the beach. I don't really feel like going further with this…" Carson replied as he started floating away.

"Uh, well… you go on ahead, I'm gonna keep searching for a bit," Holly replied, gaining more interest in the challenge than before.

Carson was a bit taken aback by her insistence on continuing, considering that she was the motherly-type. However, he just went about his business, heading back to the beach.

 **000**

Brian whistled to himself as he put on protective goggles and place a large bowl on a table. He took out a whisk and a wooden spoon, placing one on either side of the bowl.

"Alright, let's see," the genius said to himself as he began thinking. "Ah!"

He teleported a bottle of ketchup to himself. The bottle had an expired label on it that read '7/23/87'. "Perfect base…"

He twisted off the cap and patting out the rancid, odorous condiment. As one could guess, it didn't come out. This resulted in Brian cutting through and peeling the bottle away from the expired ketchup.

He got the red condiment into his bowl and nodded. He teleported the bottle bits away before chortling. "Excellent. Now… some noni."

Two greenish-yellow lumpy fruits were teleported into his right hand. The fruits had a small, white pimple-like bump on each lump.

The Reuniclus held his breath as he teleported a knife into his heads and began chopping the fruit. The smell was repugnant. After he finished chopping both fruits, he placed them into the bowl.

"Hmm… needs more awfulness…" he stated tentatively. He took out a small test tube and looking over it. The tube had a greenish tint due to the fluid inside of it. "Skuntank fluids…"

He poured the ingredient into the bowl, immediately making him recoil and back away. He swiftly gave himself a gas mask to cover his face and keep himself from smelling it.

He teleported a pitcher a water into his hands as he approached the bowl once again. He poured half the pitcher into the bowl. "Watered down anything is always disgusting…"

"Hmm, what else is there?" he asked himself. He then gained an idea. He teleported a pair of ripped and heavily stained black boxer-briefs into his cave. This was something he didn't want to touch at all, so he kept them floating.

A wringer was situated above the bowl, with Brian nodding before floating the under garment into the spinning tubes, causing brownish juices to ooze out and into the bowl.

He let out a sigh of accomplishment, feeling proud of his concoction. He proceeded to use the whisk to stir the ingredients in the bowl, making sure it was mixed up and as gross as possible.

 **000**

Klavier made his way to the volcano on the island. He had procured a few bitter leaves and a bit of the gruel from the pot under the gazebo. He had the idea of getting some soot from around the area and adding it to his smoothie. Surely that'll make whoever drinks it sick.

As he approached the volcano, which was situated close to the mountains, he felt an intense heat wash over him, almost as if he was flying into an oven.

"Jeez…" he started, moving a claw in front of his face. He began sweating a bit as he continued flying forward toward the base of the large landform. Once he got there, the intense washed over him even more. He quickly got a jar and scooped up a bunch of soot into a container.

He swiftly started flying away from the area, a headache plaguing him from the heat. "Ugh…" he groaned as he glided down the path leading back to the campgrounds.

 **-000-**

Holly, still looking for more nasty things to add to her smoothie, was checking a few trees to see if there were any nuts or small berries that were in the knots. She got lucky, finding a pile of small nuts inside of a knot.

She pulled them out and started heading back to the campgrounds. She heard the sound of air ripping, which was rather peculiar to her. Turning around, she saw Klavier flying behind her. She paid him no mind and continued flying back.

 **-000-**

Klavier, seeing the Swoobat in front of him, rose a brow. He was debating on whether or not he should talk to her. The only people he's actually interacted with here were Sabrina, Fez, Phill, Kojo, and Summer, and he was going to need to step his social game up if he wanted to make it far. However, the dilemma arose at the fact that she was on the opposite team and the two barely knew each other due to not communicating at all between seasons.

As he thought in his head, he unknowingly started gliding to the side, eventually smacking into a tree. Hearing the impact, Holly stopped and turning around, seeing the Gliscor slide down the tree trunk while groaning.

Holly gasped and quickly flew back to check on him.

Klavier groaned as he sprawled out on his back. "Fuck my life…"

"Are you okay?" Holly asked, landing next to him.

"Yeah…" the Gliscor replied as he sat up, rubbing his head. "Guess I got distracted…"

Holly rose a brow. He was flying behind her, so what would he be distracted by. "Distracted by what?"

"Thinking about whether or not we should talk…" he responded, getting back on his feet. "I need to be more social, but we're on different teams and everything so-"

Holly scoffed. "Please. Different teams don't negate us from just speaking…"

Klavier sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I guess not. So, how about after the challenge?"

Holly giggled. "Why not now? We're in each others' presence aren't we?"

"Yeah, but the challenge is still going on," he replied as he started gliding. "We don't wanna get off course do we?"

"I have my ingredients and you have yours…" Holly explained, giving him a playful look. "I don't think we're _that_ off course…"

Klavier gave a sheepish smile, holding back a blush. Holly rubbed his head before taking flight with her basket in her feet. The Gliscor picked up his basket and followed the Swoobat.

 **000**

Pia got a container full of ocean water and placed it in her basket. "And… that should do it," she said, dusting her hands.

She looked over the seven items in her basket. She had sand, gruel, ocean water, tree bark, honey, dirt, and Ursaring drool.

"No way anyone can drink a smoothie with this stuff without gagging…" Pia said to herself, hands on her hips. She heard voices coming from the distance and was able to identify them quickly. She glanced back and saw that Striker and Farra were heading in her direction, going back to the area of the beach where everyone else was.

She needed to make sure that Striker was gone this time, so she had to hope that their team lost somehow. She would have tried to sabotage them, but since Farra was a psychic-type, too, she didn't want to risk it. Plus, she was pretty under the radar as far as 'threats' go, so she'd have to restrict herself for now.

She decided to just go ahead and walk toward the main area where the others were as well.

 **-000-**

She reached the area and saw that a fair amount of the others had made it back as well. Zahku, Klavier, Holly, Carson, Egridos, Freezeo, Marion, Aura, Aspen, and Brian were already back and waiting for the remaining contestants.

When she, Farra, and Striker entered the fray once again, everyone watched them as they stood next to the others.

"Alright, so we're waiting on Frosty, Ace, Shine, Dhaunt, Lassie, and Sola…" Victini said, looking over who was back already.

"REMAINING SIX COMPETITORS, YOU HAVE FIVE MORE MINUTES TO FIND YOUR INGREDIENTS!" Victini blurted through his bullhorn. "I REPEAT! FIVE-"

 **000**

-MORE MINUTES!"

Sola was scooping gruel into her container as she heard the fox's bullhorn. "Fucking jackass…" she muttered. "Some of us need more time…"

The Absol had only been able to procure three more things for her smoothie: this gruel, some dirty toilet water, and a few Leppa berries.

The Disaster Pokemon cursed to herself, thinking about what else she could find within five minutes. Amidst her thoughts, she noticed Shine heading in her direction, with Ace in tow.

"Sola? What's the matter?" Shine asked, seeing the look of vexation on her face.

"This stupid challenge is all…" Sola responded with a shrug. "Couldn't find much of anything…"

"Well, that's okay. You've got gruel and… I'm guessing toilet water, so unless they have no taste buds and an iron stomach, it should make them gag…" Shine replied as Ace nodded in agreement.

"Well, I guess we can go, then…" Sola said with a sigh.

The three started heading back to the beach, with Sola holding a tentative, distant expression.

 **000**

 **Sola: *sigh* I hate this game…**

 **000**

Lassie and Dhaunt were heading out of LeGrae, finally, with all of their containers full of grimy, rotten food, presumably from the cafeteria.

Lassie, instead of her usual irked expression, held a rather… lax one. Dhaunt held his species' trademark grin on his face. "So, she really taught you how to skate?"

"Yeah, you'd think as a ghost-type it'd be much easier, but… it's not," Dhaunt chortled. "It took me almost a month to keep my balance on the damned thing!"

Lassie giggled. "Wow, I didn't know you could have that much trouble with such a simple thing."

"Hey, it's harder than it looks!" Dhaunt defended. "I bet you couldn't even do it!"

"I objectively couldn't given my lack of legs, so, you'd win that bet," Lassie retorted with a smirk.

"Well, that's me and Marion. What about you and Egridos?" the Gengar inquired.

Immediately upon being reminded of her own marriage, Lassie's cheerful expression immediately turned dismal. She let out a sigh of displeasure.

"We… don't get out much," Lassie responded. "I mean, _he's_ out almost all day and all night doing these stupid talk shows, game shows, and commercials, while I'm just stuck at home watching soap operas and eating ice cream…"

"Oh…" Dhaunt responded, surprised to hear that. "Well, uh… sorry. Didn't mean to-"

"No, no, it's fine…" Lassie replied. "It's just… frustrating. And I keep debating in my head whether or not I should just leave him. We always argue about petty things, we haven't really had sex in months, he's hardly ever around, and despite what he may say, he doesn't show that he even really loves me anymore…"

"Well, I'm not really sure about how to respond to that, all I can say is… talk to him," Dhaunt responded. "Address these issues with him. Maybe things will work out. And if he's not willing to change for your sake… I'm not gonna stop you from leaving him… it's _your_ choice."

Hearing that, Lassie nodded before hugging him. "Thanks…"

"Oh, no problem…" Dhaunt replied, feeling rather awkward, accepting the hug.

Suddenly, the two of them seemingly faded away from the area they were in.

 **000**

When they reappeared, they were still mid-embrace, and Dhaunt felt sand under his toes. Everyone stared at the two of them.

"Well, what do we have here?" Victini chortled.

They swiftly moved away from each other, clearing their throats.

"It wasn't what you thought it was. I was just thanking him," Lassie replied, folding her arms as she put her basket down.

"Sure…" Victini said, rolling his eyes. "Wonder how this'll play out in the future…"

Marion rolled her eyes, while Egridos didn't really show any real care. The others didn't show any concern, either, which on the inside, irked Vixen.

 **000**

 **Vixen: Ah yes. Let** _ **any**_ **other guy come in contact with me in** _ **any**_ **way** **and I'm a fucking slut. Any other girl has that happen and hardly anyone bats an eye.**

 **Fuck this game…**

 **000**

"Okay, now that everyone's back, let's get this challenge on the road," Victini explained. "Mew?"

Mew groaned and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Two at a time, a player from each team will choose one of the ingredient gatherers of the opposing team. They will create their smoothies, and then you will have to drink it. The player who finishes their smoothie quicker will earn a point for their team. If you puke, that's an automatic loss. First team to six points will win…"

"Any questions or concerns?" Victini asked.

Everyone raised their hands or appendage.

"None? Alright then, on with the challenge."

"We should've seen that one coming…" Morgan muttered.

"Now, first race will be… Taylor vs. Anthony!" Victini announced.

Both water-types groaned in agitation.

 **-000-**

The two of them were sat in front of a smaller table, but it was still able to fit both of them in it. They sat next to each other, each of them holding an irked expression.

"Alright, Lugias, you will have first choice once again due to you winning the previous challenge," Victini explained. "So, Taylor, you're up."

Taylor gave a snobbish smirk, but upon remembering what he was choosing for, the grin faded. "Thanks," he drawled. He looked upon whom he had to choose from very tentatively, not wanting anything too bad.

His eyes settled upon Holly, who seemed to have some kind of cereal box in her basket. He smirked initially, but he recalled that they could only choose from the opposite teams. He cursed to himself.

He looked once again, and, seeing that Brian seemed to only have one container with something inside of it, he sighed. "Alright, I'll take Brian's."

Victini rolled his eyes. "Okay. Brian, what do you have?"

Brian chuckled diabolically as he picked up his single container. "I have created an evil concoction that shall cause anyone who drinks it to retch uncontrollably in an instant! You're done for, one who looks like the opposing gender!"

Taylor scoffed. "Oh please. All of your inventions either fail or don't affect me. This doesn't look that hard…"

"Uh, please elaborate what's in this 'concoction' of yours…" Victini said, not exactly sold on what he was claiming.

Brian chortled. "My concoction contains expired tomato extract, cheese fruit, excretions of a Skuntank, dirty underwear fluids, and water…"

He shook the container, causing a sticky, slushing sound to be heard. Everyone went wide-eyed at the Reuniclus' explanation. Anthony burst out into laughter, while Taylor paled, his right eye twitched.

 **000**

 **Taylor: I… will end him…**

 **000**

Victini was astonished at the amount of effort Brian put into his pre-blended concoction. He smirked. "Alright then. That's great. Anthony?"

"I'll go with… Holly's," the Blastoise said, wiping a tear from his eye from his laughter. "It looks less traumatizing than what he-she here will have to go through…"

"Holly, what do you have?" Victini asked.

"I have… Razz Balls cereal, salt, and nuts…" Holly replied.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, YOU DUMB BITCH?!" Taylor bellowed in anger, his eyes glaring daggers at her. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING TRY!"

"Well I'm sorry that I couldn't find anything as disgusting as the others!" the Swoobat shouted back.

Her teammates began exchanging looks, much to the Swoobat's annoyance.

"How the hell did you even get the cereal and salt!?" Victini questioned in annoyance. "I locked both cabins!"

"And if you couldn't find anything as disgusting in the environment around us… how the hell did you manage to _intentionally_ get cereal, salt, and nuts?! That's just trail mix!" Egridos exclaimed. "You could have been able to get worse things on this cesspool of an island!

Holly just ignored them. "Can we move this along please?"

"I agree," Mew said, folding his arms. "This is just annoying to listen to at this point."

"Alright alright…" Victini said. "Let's get the blending started!"

Two blenders appeared in front of the water-types. Victini floated over the two of them. "Now, all smoothies need a liquid base, so… rotten milk will act as this for every smoothie blended…"

Zahku walked forward with two bottles of old, expired milk. He poured a decent amount into each blender, and immediately, the smell hit everyone like a truck.

"Mother of Arceus, that's burning my fucking eyes!" Freezeo exclaimed, facing away from the sight.

"Yep," Victini said, plugging his own nose. "And now, your chosen ingredients…"

Zahku picked up the dictionary and the coagulated Snorlax blood. He poured the blood into the blender in front of Taylor. It oozed into the pitcher, seeming to settle at the bottom. One could see the clots as it ran out of the container. The milk mixed with the body fluid, causing it to turn orange.

He moved over to the blender in front of Anthony, who didn't look as afraid. Zahku opened the dictionary upside down and flipped the pages, causing a lot of lint, hair, chips, and dust to enter it and float to the top.

Anthony frowned in an instant.

The Hariyama then began tearing pages out of the dictionary, crumbling them and dropping them into the pitcher as well.

"Yummy…" Victini said mockingly. "Now, for the good stuff. Holly, Brian… add your found ingredients."

Brian nodded, teleporting his gas mask onto his face before twisting off the lid of his concoction. Immediately an unbearable stench wafted through the air, even worse than the rotten milk.

Everyone in the vicinity had to cover their noses and mouths just to keep their nostrils vacant of the horrendous stench.

Brian poured it into the blender in front of Taylor.

Holly, holding her breath, opened the cereal box and poured half the box into the blender. The multi-colored balls filled the container, joining the paper and lint. She unscrewed the salt shaker and dumped half of it inside. Then, she just tossed the nuts inside of the blender and closed the lid.

She pressed the blend button, holding the top down with a wing.

Brian held the lid of his blender down as well, watching as the the fluid inside turned a orange-beige color. Holly's smoothie was completely grayish-brown.

After a minute of blending, the lids were removed and everyone kept their noses plugged.

Zahku stepped forward, the stench not affecting him as bad as the others. He placed two tall glasses in front of the two participants. He then picked up both pitchers and poured the contents into their respective glasses.

Taylor eyed the glass warily, his eyebrow covering his nose as he teared up a bit. Anthony took a deep breath before coughing from the smell.

"Alright… let's get this show on the road…" Victini said with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together.

Zahku pushed the smoothies closer to the two water-types. The two of them exchanged looks of nervousness.

"In three… two… one… GO!"

Anthony picked up his smoothie and as soon as it reached his mouth, he gagged from the smell of the milk. He took a sip and immediately tasted the salt and milk combination. It wasn't pleasant, not at all.

Taylor didn't even pick up his smoothie. If he drank it, his breath would smell like hot ass for months! He wasn't risking that. So, he just had to hope that Anthony puked, which would give him this round.

"Come on big man, you know you can't do it…" Taylor said as Anthony took a big gulp and immediately gagged, almost puking up the contents.

"That salty, rotten milk _has_ be taking a toll on your taste buds…" Taylor continued as Anthony tried tuning him out. "I mean, just think about how bad your breath is going to stink. You'll never be able to get a girlfriend after that…"

"It's like your drinking saltwater, right?" Taylor continued.

"TAYLOR! HE'S GETTING HALFWAY THERE! DRINK!" Farra exclaimed.

Turning the Girafarig out, the Milotic continued his 'mind game' with the Blastoise, who looked ready to blow, holding the glass to his mouth.

" _Mother of Arceus, this is so fucking bad! Salt and milk definitely don't go together!"_ the Blastoise thought in his head.

Hearing Taylor in his ear, taunting him only made him more and more agitated." _Ugh… I wish this bastard would shut the fuck up."_

He gagged once again, but kept the smoothie down. He brought the glass down momentarily as he slowly tried to swallow the fluid in his mouth.

 **000**

 **Anthony: The salt is what made it so fucking hard! You ever have a bunch of salty saliva in your mouth that you just don't want to swallow and have to spit out? Yeah, that was that smoothie.**

 **000**

Anthony threw his head back, causing the smoothie to slide down much faster. Once he was done, the Blastoise growled, standing up and holding his hands to his head. "Mother of FUCK that was bad!"

"Well, congratulations Anthony, you won a point for the Ho-Ohs," Victini replied.

The Blastoise was currently gargling with water from his own body in order to expel the awful taste from his mouth. He then blasted a Hydro Pump at a distant tree, slicing it clean in two.

"Way to go, Taylor!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Oh shut the hell up!" Taylor replied. "I wasn't gonna slither around here with Skuntank ass on my breath! So, unless you are willing to deal with that yourself, you don't get to chastise me…"

The other members of the Lugias grumbled to themselves, as the Milotic _did_ have a point. None of them wanted to Skuntank spray… or blood for that matter.

"Okay, next drinkers!" Victini announced. "Connor and Phill…"

The Bouffalant was quivering, while the Raticate simply sighed.

 **-000-**

The two sat at the same table as their predecessors. The white tablecloth was now stained a bit from the past smoothie residue. There were now two new, clean glasses and two clean blenders. This was particularly odd, as one would expect Victini to reuse the filthy utensils rather than use brand new ones.

"Alright, Connor, you get first dibs," Victini said. "Who do you choose to make your smoothie?"

"Uh… I g-guess…" he started. He looked back at the corner of his eye and only saw Taylor glowering at him, no indication on who he should go for. He swallowed at this. "F-Freezeo."

Freezeo was surprised that he had been chosen. He wasn't really seen gathering his items, so it was unknown what he really had in store.

"Alright, Freezeo, what have you got?"

"I uh… just got some used toilet water and sand…" he said apathetically. "Nothing major, considering you're gonna add rotten milk and Eelektrik guts to mine."

Victini sighed. "Alright, fine…"

Connor paled. He had completely forgotten that the Crystallizing Pokemon chose the Eelektrik guts as his first ingredient.

"Phill? What's your choice?"

"I'll go with Carson," Phill replied. "He has a cereal box, too…"

Victini glanced at the Bronze Bell Pokemon's basket and saw that he indeed had cereal. He gave him a look.

Carson laughed sheepishly, as a few of his teammates gave him the same look they gave Holly. He sighed. "I have Cornflakes and pepper…"

"Ah yes, something borderline flavorless with something that adds flavor," Shine commented. "Great choice there."

"Almost as great as your choice in husband…" Aura commented, to which Shine didn't respond, though she wouldn't even know how to.

"Alright, round two. Let's get this blending going…" Victini said.

Zahku poured a bottle of rotten milk into each blender before going to the long table. He went to the far end to get the Eelektrik guts and went back around the front to get the wads of chewed gum.

He dumped the contents into their respective blenders and placed the lids back on. Carson and Freeze held the lids down as they pressed their blend buttons.

After a while, they stopped, with Carson's smoothie having a brownish-white tint, and Freezeo's was a murky brown color.

Zahku removed the lids and poured th contents into their respective glasses. Connor swallowed in nervousness, while Phill held an indifferent expression.

"Alright, let's get this started…" Victini said. "In three… two… one… GO!"

Phill grabbed his glass and immediately started chugging, while Connor had to be given a straw in order to drink his.

As soon as the Bouffalant took a sip, the sliminess of the Eelektrik guts made him gag and pass out. Meanwhile, the Raticate beside him had almost no reaction to his smoothie and finished it with no problem, slamming the glass down with a brownish-white moustache over his lips.

"And Phill wins another point for the Ho-Ohs!" Victini announced.

The Ho-Ohs cheered, while the Lugias only glared at Connor's unconscious form.

 **000**

 **Phill: *shrugs* I'm a rat, I don't really have many standards when it comes to what I eat as long as it's not actual garbage…**

 **000**

"Alright, that's two points for the Ho-Ohs and nothing for the Lugias. You guys had better pick up the pace," Victini chortled.

"It's not our fault two of our teammates are complete morons and our first two drinkers are wimps…" Egridos replied.

"Uh, you were the one who decided to choose who does what, so… it's mostly _your_ fault," Morgan spoke up, giving the coffin a glare.

"Like your plan would have been better…" Egridos replied, rolling his eyes.

"You cut her off before she could even explain her idea!" Chlotz exclaimed.

"Let's just move on…" Victini chimed in, wanting to get back to the challenge. "Next drinkers, Kojo and Marie!"

Marie sneered, while Kojo facepalmed.

 **-000-**

The two took their seats at the table, once again with completely clean glasses and blenders. Marie wasn't that scared, and neither was Kojo, though a look of hesitation was on his face.

"Alright, Kojo, who do you choose?" Victini asked.

"Hmm… " he began looking at everyone, and just had to hope that who he chose didn't have much. "I guess, Klavier."

Klavier nodded, and knowing what Victini was going to ask, he went ahead and explained. "I've got some bitter leaves, soot from around the volcano, and gruel from the picnic area gazebo place."

Kojo took a deep breath.

"And Marie?" Victini continued.

"Frosty…" the Feraligatr replied with a smirk.

Frosty nodded. "I've got Tamato Berries, gruel, and dirt."

" _Hmm_ , _not bad at all, just as I thought…"_ Marie thought to herself.

Victini sighed in disappointment, the fact that Brian still had the best combination was getting annoying. They weren't even filling all seven containers. "Alright fine. Let the blending begin…"

Zahku poured the milk into each blender. He grabbed the liquified Rapidash penis and his plate of toe jam.

He dumped the ingredients in their respective blenders. Frosty and Klavier started putting their own ingredients inside of the blender before closing the lids. Klavier held down the lid and started blending his smoothie, and because Frosty didn't have long arms, he had to use his icicle bottom to press the blend button and hold it down with his full body.

After a few moments, the blending was done. Zahku removed the lids and poured the smoothies into each glass.

Kojo and Marie exchanged competitive glances. Summer didn't really know who the be rooting for in her head, as they each had a connection to her.

"In three… two… one… GO!"

Both of them grabbed their glasses and started gulping down their smoothies. Kojo gagged a bit as he tried to chug it down. The soot was what was doing him in, as the smokiness was throwing him off.

Marie was going just fine. The Tamato Berries actually masked all of the other flavors, and despite being very hot and spicy, she was a water-type, so she was able to overcome it.

Kojo was getting through it, but his gagging ever so often was slowing him down. Strangely enough, he could only taste the soot and milk; he wasn't getting any trace of the other ingredients at all.

After a while, Marie slammed the glass back down on the table just seconds before Kojo did.

"And Marie gets the Ho-Ohs their third point!" Victini announced.

Marie stood up with a smirk, while Kojo groaned as he got up, holding his stomach. He held his paw to his mouth before running toward the ocean.

Summer looked at him worried eyes.

"Okay, at least Kojo actually _tried_ and finished," Farra commented. "If we lose, I say that he's safe."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Egridos replied, not really having any concern over them. "Let's just keep this challenge going. Someone has to win at least _one_ round!"

"Next drinkers… Sally and Sabrina!" Victini announced.

Sabrina smirked, while Sally folded her arms.

 **-000-**

They each took their seats at the table. The rotten milk was already placed into the blenders this time around so that Zahku didn't have to go back and forth as much.

"Alright, Sally, you're up first…"

Sally nodded before letting out a sigh. She would have gone with Pia, but her sudden distrust of her told her to go for someone else's. "I'll go with Marion's," she said.

The Banette shrugged. "Uh, I just have toilet water, Combee honey, grass, and nuts."

Sally raised a brow upon hearing that, but shrugged.

"Alright, and Sabrina?"

"I'll go with the cocoon's…" she stated confidently.

Farra glowered at the Staraptor for referring to Striker that way. The Metapod was surprised at the fact that he was actually chosen. He didn't have much, despite the amount of time he and Farra spent looking.

"Oh, well, I just have salt water, sand, a few dirt clods, and some sludge," Striker replied.

Sabrina was a bit taken aback. "Uh, isn't drinking salt water… _deadly?_ "

"You guys are immortal, you'll be fine…" Victini spoke up, waving her concerns away. "You may feel dehydrated, but everything will be fine."

Sabrina blinked in response as Zahku handled his job. He grabbed the plate of rust and the cud before heading back to the table. He poured both substances into the milk before walking away, allowing Marion and Striker, with Farra's assistance, to put their ingredients into the blenders.

Once that part was done, the blending commenced. After about a few moments, they stopped. Zahku re-entered the scene, removing the lids and pouring the contents into the glasses.

Sally and Sabrina eyed the glasses with wariness.

"Alright…" Victini started. "In three… two… one… GO!"

Immediately, Sally grabbed her glass and started taking swigs of the smoothie. The taste was repulsive, but she decided to just hold her breath and allow the chunky fluid to ooze down her throat.

Sabrina, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant give the salt water in the smoothie. She sighed before picking up her glass with a talon and hesitantly brought it to her beak. She took her first gulp, and immediately tasted the salt water part of it.

She nearly gagged from the overwhelming taste, and the dirt, sand, and sludge didn't help in that case.

Sally was having her own issues, as the toilet water was the main thing she could taste, other than the metallicness of the rust. She found herself gagging ever so often.

Sabrina ended up spitting out a bit of her smoothie back into the cup because of the saltiness of it. She just couldn't get more of it down.

Sally took a breath and just continued chugging until she was done. Once she was done, she stood up abruptly, panting and coughing.

"And Sally scores the first point for the Lugias!" Victini announced.

Sabrina looked down in disappointment. She talked smack to Fez, but she wasn't able to back herself up. Fez held a cocky smirk, but he couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her deep down. She flew back to her seat at the table, holding an irked expression.

"You did the best yo-"

"Don't… rub it in…" Sabrina hissed, glaring at him.

"I wasn't going to!" Fez exclaimed in response. "Jeez, stop jumping to conclusions!"

"Next drinkers…" Victini started. "Vixen and Summer!"

Both fire-type ladies sighed.

 **-000-**

They took their seats at the table, clean glasses and rotten milk-filled blenders at the ready.

"Vixen, you'd better win this! We know you've swallowed things that'll be thicker than any of those smoothies!" Taylor remarked, causing a good amount of laughter to be emitted from the others, minus a few who either didn't care or felt bad for her.

Vixen gripped the tablecloth tightly, fighting back tears. "Fuck all of you…"

"No thanks, we don't know what you've got by now!" Egridos laughed, causing more laughter among the others.

Mew, seeing the Victini was laughing as well, rolled his eyes. Looks like he had to be the voice of reason and get things back under control.

"HEY!" he shouted loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Seriously, can you guys act your fucking ages?! You're acting like you're back in highschool!"

"Hey, this is a hot topic…" Aura laughed.

"Oh fuck off with that…" Mew responded. "This bullshit has been going on ever since second season ended! It's been fucking run into the ground by morons with nothing better to do with their lives. I could easily point out shit that people could fuck with you guys about."

"Aura, you've raped two men and had children by them against their wills. You're not hot shit. Taylor, you're insisting that you're not gay, but your confessionals, Brian's gadget, and actions last season say otherwise. Kojo, you're practically a cuck at this point..."

"Hey! I wasn't even laughing!" the Mienshao bellowed as Summer glowered at Mew.

Aura rolled her eyes. "As if. Men can't even get raped, so you can blow that out your ass…"

"And that was all strategy for fuck's sake, so fuck off!"

"See what I mean?" Mew replied. "We've got twenty-four years worth of drama and information that can be brought up, exploited, and beaten to death like the bullshit with Vixen. So, I implore you to stop acting like 13-year olds and get over yourselves!"

Everyone remained silent as Mew retreated into the background. They all exchanged glances at each other, not daring to say anything else, initially.

Victini groaned in annoyance. "Why do you have to ruin everything!?" he shouted, glaring at Mew.

"Wait, twenty-four years?!" Striker exclaimed.

"Can we just focus back on the challenge, please?" Pia asked. "Mew had his rant and now we know to back the fuck off of each other… for the most part. Can we move on?"

Victini grumbled to himself. "Whatever. Vixen, choose."

Vixen, wiping her tears away. "Dhaunt…" she said softly.

"Okay, well…" the Gengar started, coming forward. "I've got spoiled, stale food from the cafeteria in LeGrae and… that's pretty much it. It's not really identifiable…"

"Ooh… nice," Victini commended. "Summer?"

"I'll go with Shine," the Typhlosion replied nonchalantly.

The Espeon rose a brow. "I've got gruel, pepper spray, toilet water, Persim Berries, and hair."

Summer sighed upon hearing that. " _Wonderful_ …" she mumbled to herself.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Victini stated.

Zahku grabbed the plate of moldy cheese and bottle of Coconut Lotion. He dumped the smelly green cheese into the blender in front of Summer before unscrewing the cap on the lotion and squeezing the sweet-smelling substance inside.

Once that was done, Zahku just moved back again, allowing Dhaunt and Shine to move up and add their ingredients.

Shine easily removed lids and used kinesis to scoop everything she had gathered into her blender, while Dhaunt just opened his first container and turned it upside down. He pat it a few times, and the lumpy, discolored mass slowly eased out of the plastic container before plopping into the blender.

"Repulsive…" Victini commented with a smile.

Dhaunt and Shine put the lids on the blenders and started blending. It was rather easy for Shine's to happen, but the mass was posing an issue, being difficult for the tough blades of the blender to cut through.

After a few more minutes, the blades were able to grind up the stale food, leaving a few chewable chunks inside.

Both smoothies were poured into the classes of their respective drinkers. While Summer's came out smoothly, with a few chunks of cheese coming out with it, Vixen's was completely lumpy and oozing.

"This… should be interesting…" Victini commented. "In three… two… one… DRINK!"

Summer hesitantly picked up her glass and started drinking it, while Vixen attempted to take a sip, only for the chunks of food, as well as the lotion, to come back up and make her gag. The textures of both smoothies were just so wrong.

Summer was having trouble keeping the rotten cheese and milk chunks down, as well as the hair. Every gulp she took made her want to gag more and more, while Vixen struggled to even get a few more sips of it down.

Eventually, within three minutes, Summer finally put her cup down, panting while holding her stomach. She looks ready to puke, her eyes tearing up a bit. She forced it back down though and shivered.

"And… Summer wins the Ho-Ohs' fourth point!"

Summer burped, causing the tastes to re-enter her mouth, urging her to rush toward the water, same as Kojo.

"Are we going to get our stomachs pumped after this?" Chlotz inquired, a bit nervous.

"If I feel l-"

"Yes!" Mew interjected, causing Victini to glare at him.

"Okay, good to know," Chlotz nodded.

"NEXT DRINKERS!" Victini bellowed. " Chlotz and Annie!"

Annie and Chlotz both swallowed in fear.

 **000**

 **Chlotz: I hate my life…**

 **000**

Chlotz took a seat next to Annie, folding his arms. Annie let of a sigh, while Chlotz tried to keep a confident disposition.

"Alright, let's get this going…" Victini said. "Chlotz, choose your player…"

Chlotz, overlooking who was left from the opposing team, sighed. Aspen, Aura, Lassie, and Pia were the only ones that hadn't been chosen just yet. He eyed the basket next to his Hypno adversary's foot. The basket was _completely_ full; every container had something in it.

Meanwhile, the others' baskets had very little in them. The Shiftry felt obligated to choose one of the others, but because of his team's poor lead, he decided to take one for the team. With a sigh, he eyed Pia. "I'll take Pia's…"

Pia was surprised, but also a bit agitated. Sure, her team had the lead, but that could easily change. "Alright…" she stated, stepping up to the table and removing the lid from the blender. "I've got…"

"Sand," she said, pouring sand into the blender with the milk, causing it to sit at the bottom.

"Gruel…" she continued, dumping the rancid foodstuff into the blender, causing milk to splash up a bit.

"Ocean water…" she said, pouring the salt water into the blender.

"Tree bark…" she took out two pieces of rotten tree bark and held them over the blender before breaking them with her hands, allowing the pieces to drop in with the rest of the ingredients.

"Honey…" she continued as she poured the golden liquid into the blender.

"Dirt and drool…" Pia said, opening the last two containers and pouring the slimy fluid and dirt into the blender.

Chlotz shuddered, seeing the blender almost full. There was no way all of that was going to blend with the amount of milk that was inside.

"Okay wow, impressive Pia…" Victini commended. "And good on you for actually put your things into the blending while explaining…"

"You didn't tell us to!" Klavier injected.

"I didn't tell you to put them in after Zahku either, now did I?" Victini retorted. "So, your argument is invalid. Anyways, Annie, what's your choice?"

"Going by what what he chose as his first ingredient, I'm gonna go with Egridos, since it's still actually edible…" she explained.

Egridos chortled. "Whatever you say…" he said, floating to the blender. "I just made sure to get some sand…"

He scooped up some sand from the ground beneath him and dumped it into the blender.

"And some Tamato berries…" he said, picking up four red, spiky berries from his basket and tossing them into the blender. "Gonna make it dry and scorching hot…"

Annie sighed. "Of course…"

Zahku grabbed the hot sauce and the Garbodor bile before heading over to the blenders. He poured the fluids into their respective blenders and placed the lids back onto them.

The two of them began blending their concoctions. After they looked well enough, the blending ceased and the lids were removed. Egridos' had the smell of death around it, while Pia's just looked abysmal and gross because of the bile and the combination of everything she had.

Both Annie and Chlotz exchanged looks of worry.

"In three… two… one… DRINK!"

Both grass-types just eyed their smoothies nervously, not daring to even touch them.

"Uh… I don't know if I can do this…" Chlotz said.

"You'd better! Or your ass is on the line!" Taylor bellowed.

"Taylor, you didn't drink your smoothie either, shut up…" Sparky said with a glower.

Taylor blew a raspberry.

Annie swallowed, grabbing her glass and pulling it toward her. She shakily picked it up and started drinking a bit. When she swallowed, she immediately began to perspire heavily. Seconds later, she passed out from the intensity of the heat in her system.

"Crikey, Annie!" Titan exclaimed as he and Cramad rushed to their friend's aid, as did a few others.

"Damn it, Egridos! Did you _have_ to overheat the fucking smoothie?!"

"Hey, she willingly chose me. Not my fault and not my problem…" Egridos replied.

"Chlotz! This is your chance! Drink!" Farra called, not really concerned about Annie, which was a bit surprising to Striker.

"Annie's down, Farra. Come on," Striker responded. "That wouldn't be fair at all!"

"It's a competition, shell-shock!" Taylor shouted. "Chlotz, do it!"

Chlotz was a bit worried about Annie, but he knew that drinking that smoothie would either causing him to puke, or prolong his alliance's plan. With a shaky sigh, he picked up the cup and took a large gulp, only to run from his chair seconds later.

Sounds of intense retching were heard, signifying that the smoothie didn't do down smoothly.

"And those sounds mean that the Ho-Ohs score once again!"

"Oh come on! The flower bitch is down!" Taylor exclaimed. "That should be a point to us!"

"She overheated; she didn't puke…" Victini clarified. "Meaning that if the next drinker for your team does shittily, you guys lose."

All eyes from the Lugias fell upon Morgan, Amethyst, Ashton, and Sparky, the only four who hadn't done a round yet.

"And...the next drinkers are… Amethyst and Fez!"

Amethyst seemed to be in a daze, staring down at the table before her. Her stare was one of complete worry, but it wasn't about the challenge.

 **-000-**

 _In the Amaura's eyes, she was sitting at a table in the apartment that she and Sven shared. Now, this should be a peaceful setting, given who she was staying with, but it was the exact opposite. The apartment was disheveled._

 _There were holes in the walls, cabinet doors were unhinged, floor tiles were chipped, and the overall atmosphere was similar to that of a prison. Amethyst was sniffling while staring at the cup in front of her._

 _A note sat beside the cup. It read: "Alright you dumb bitch, this cup had better be empty by the time I get back from work, or you'll get the same thing you got last night. So, every fucking drop better be gone. If you pour it anywhere else, you know what'll happen…" - Sven._

 _Amethyst's started crying as she turned and saw a clock on a kitchen counter. It was 4:43… and he made it home at 5:00 on the dot every time!_

 _Amethyst panting erratically, tears streaming down her face as she glanced at the cup before her. The cup was filled to the top with a whitish-gray hairy substance and had a bendy straw inside of it._

 _She hesitantly opened her mouth before wrapping her mouth around the straw and beginning to suck the liquid into her body. Her tastebuds were suffering and she was gagging as she drank more and more, but the fear of what the Sawsbuck would do plagued her mind and she had to force herself to keep everything down._

 _The taste was downright dreadful. It tasted of rotten milk and waste, and the smell was that of ammonia. Once the cup was empty, she coughed as she swiftly ran toward the living room to pretend to sleep._

 _Seconds later, she felt herself being tapped and paled. Rolling over, she saw Sven glaring daggers at her with red eyes from across the room. She whimpered as she felt more tears begin to form in her eyes._

" _Amy…" he said, approaching her._

" _Amy…" he repeated, sounding very eerie. "I'm so worried… are you okay?"_

 _Amethyst couldn't move, but she still felt herself being shaken and touched. "AMY!"_

 **-000-**

The Amaura let out a shriek of complete fear as she found herself lying in the sand, far away from everyone else. Next to her, holding concerned expressions, were Holly, Ashton, and Carson. She panted heavily, her eyes red from her tears. She sniffled as she looked around to regain her bearings.

"Amy, what's going on with you?" Holly queried. "Please tell us…"

"W-What happened?" the timid Amaura responded.

"You had to drink a smoothie, but you weren't moving, so Victini just levitated you to the table, chose Farra for you, and after the smoothies were blended, you started looking around, you cried, drank your smoothie in one go, and then came all the way over here to lie down…" Carson explained.

Amethyst looked down. Sure, she had gotten her team the point, keeping them in the game, but the fact that she was beginning to have those types of thoughts again was scaring her. She didn't want to tell anyone, but ever since she and Sven started a relationship, she had been dealing with these night terrors and day dreams revolving around him.

If she told anyone, she was worried that they would paint Sven as an abuser. He never laid a hoof on her; she didn't know why her mind had been painting him as an abuser.

She sighed as she got onto her feet, her breathing calming down. She simply started walking away, her task being finished; she had to do some thinking.

Holly and Carson started following her, but Ashton extended a vine, holding them back. They eyed her, confused.

"I think… we need to just leave her alone for a while…" Ashton stated, watching the rock- and ice-type leave.

The two psychic-type exchanges glances as Ashton started heading back to the others. Carson, despite his hesitance, followed her. Holly was still stuck; she wanted to help Amethyst as best as she could, but if she wasn't willing to explain the issue, how could she?

With a disappointed sigh, Holly flew back toward the group.

 **-000-**

Fez groaned as he flew back over, having had to vomit up Farra's smoothie quickly from the awful taste. It consisted of sea water, sand clods, moss, and nuts, as well as the Bruxish Milt, which was awful in of itself.

"Alright, everyone's come back, so let's continue with the challenge…"

"What about Amy?" Holly asked.

"What about her? She got you guys a point, I don't care about her leaving…" Victini replied with a shrug. "Now, next drinkers… Morgan and Luna!"

The girls simply exchanged competitive glares.

 **-000-**

The two girls took their seats at the table. It was heavily stained at this point, but it would have to be ignored. Rotten milk was once again in the new blenders.

"Alright, come on," Victini said.

Morgan looked at who was left for the Ho-Ohs, and groaned. It would seem that only Aura and Aspen were left. "Fine… I'll go with Aspen, I guess."

Aspen shrugged, not really bothered. "I just got some lake water, sediment, and wet grass," she explained as she moved to the blender.

She took a seat and started putting her ingredients into the blender.

"Alright, and Luna?"

"Who else? Sola…" Luna replied, rolling her eyes.

Hearing this, Ace rolled his eyes. "Picked last. How typical…"

"Typical for you, maybe!" Aura called, being the last one for the Ho-Ohs. "This is bullshit!"

"Oh pipe down," Sola said, approaching the blender. "You act like you're actually worth something…"

"I'm worth more than your entire _life_ , bitch!" Aura growled. "Don't you belittle me…"

Sola rolled her eyes. There was no point in responding. "Anyways, I've just got gruel, toilet water, and Leppa Berries…" she said, putting each ingredient in accordingly.

Zahku retrieved the Absol's and Furfrou's signature ingredients, the Deerling ovaries and sand, respectively, and placed them into their blenders. The blending began, which each smoothie turning a brownish-green color, resembling bogwater.

"Alright, let's do this," Victini said as Zahku poured each smoothie into a glass. The girls held their competitive expressions despite the awful appearances of both smoothies. "In three… two… one… DRINK!"

Morgan and Luna both grabbed hold of their cups and started chugging. The sand was giving Morgan a bit of trouble, as the graininess made it hard for her to keep down.

Luna, on the other hand, was having a difficult time with the flavors overall. The rancidness of the gruel and the putrid stench and chunkiness of the toilet water made things worse. The Leppa berries barely enhanced the experience, as the other flavors drowned them.

It took a while, but eventually, Morgan was able to keep the smoothie down and finished.

"And Morgan scores a third point for the Lugias!" Victini announced as Luna stopped drinking and immediately rushed to the ocean to puke, as the others before her did. "Alright, next drinkers are Ashton and Cramad! Let's see what you ladies can handle…"

Both girls let out a groan.

 **-000-**

They sat at the table, looks of wariness on each of their faces.

"Alright Ashton, who do you choose?"

Ashton rose a brow. "Uh… Aura is the only one left, so…"

"Uh, no… remember that Zahku had to do two smoothies on his own since there were only eighteen searchers," Victini explained. "So, Zahku is also a choice…"

"Oh," Ashton realized. "Well, uh, I choose Zahku, then. It can't be that bad…"

Aura gaped. "You stupid bitch! How dare you!?"

"Does it really fucking matter?" Anthony questioned. "As long as she fails to get it down, we win! Get off your high horse…"

Aura growled as Zahku approached the table. He took out a few cans of expired tomato sauce, a bottle of citric acid, lemon juice, bile, and Vegemite.

Ashton sighed. She already expected it to be awful, given the others' experiences.

"And… Cramad?"

"I'll go with Ace…" Cramad said with a shrug.

Ace rolled his eyes before approaching the table and using his ribbons to take his containers out. "I got Pachirisu shit, a bit of gruel, toilet water, moss, and a few nuts…"

He placed all of his ingredients into the blender, as Zahku did the same in silence. Zahku went over to the long table, where the other drinkers sat looking sick and defeated, and grabbed the Arugula and Wailord urine.

He came back over to the smaller table and poured the ingredients inside. The two of them started blending the smoothies. Once they were finished, Zahku took off the lids and poured the fluids into the glasses.

"Alright… let's see if this is a victory for the Ho-Ohs, or a continuation…" Victini said. "In three… two… one… GO!"

Ashton, using her vines, picked up the cup and started trying to drink it, while Cramad had to be given a straw to drink her smoothie. Ashton had a few problems, trying to keep the different flavors she was exposed to, while Cramad just sipped away with ease, as if she couldn't taste anything.

As Ashton struggled, Cramad just sipped away, eventually finishing the thick liquid off, causing Ashton to stop and groan.

"AND THE HO-OHS WIN THE CHALLENGE!"

The Ho-Ohs started cheering, but it was restrained due to their stomach pains.

"Lugias… looks like you guys will be eliminating someone tonight…" said Victini.

The Lugias simply exchanged glances toward each other. With the number of players who screwed up, who knew who was getting eliminated?

 **000**

Pia, Chlotz, Sally, and Freezeo met back up at their spot. Pia was filled to the brim with enthusiasm; looked like her plan was going to be a success.

"Alright, so all you guys have to do is convince the others to ax Striker…" Pia said.

"Right," Chlotz replied with a nod.

"But there's a chance that they may ignore that and go for those that actually _failed_ in the challenge. Then there's the fact that some of them hate each other…" Sally explained.

"Well, get it in their heads that they need to eliminate the thr-"

"We're _all_ threats…"

"Just do it…" Pia responded, holding her head in annoyance. "They've gotta be easily convinced…"

Chlotz nodded, while Sally mentally sighed. The two of them started leaving to go talk to their team. Once they were gone, Pia sighed.

"What's the matter?" Freezeo queried, hearing and seeing her reaction..

"Nothing, nothing. So, uh… who do you think will be an easy out out of our three targets?"

"Hmm…"

 **000**

Morgan and her alliance sat underneath the gazebo in order to discuss the votes. Luna, despite being on the winning team, was there for support and input.

"Alright, I think we should just get rid of either Taylor or Egridos," Morgan suggested. "That way it'll be a warning to one of them to shut the hell up…"

Shine cleared her throat. "Well, it may be a huge weight off of everyone's shoulders, but I think the better strategy at this moment would be to focus on the welfare of the team and making sure we have the right people who can handle different situations…"

"-Which is why you guys should vote out Striker…" the group heard from the side.

Chlotz started approaching from the bushes, with Sally in tow. Allegedly, he had heard their conversation, which was hard to believe.

"Uh… thank you for moving my point along, Chlotz," Shine said rather awkwardly due to his and Sally's sudden emergence. "I was gonna get to that…"

"Why the hell were you two spying on us?" Sola inquired, tightening her glare.

"We weren't," Chlotz replied immediately, not liking the look he was getting from her. "We were just coming to the campgrounds and heard you guys…"

"From the bushes… all the way over there…" Luna drawled. "Yeah, that makes sense…."

Chlotz rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Shine's already on board, so it's all good…" he said with a smile as he started heading back to the bushes. On his way back ,he tripped, while Sally just started heading to the loser cabins.

"That was weird…" Sparky commented.

"They're in an alliance, but so are we, so who cares?" Sola commented with a shrug. "Anyway, why are you saying Striker, Shine?"

"Well, strategy wise, he's a bit of a floater, he's gotten runner-up in the second season, and he mostly just relies on Farra for help. In a sense, he's just dead weight."

"In his defense, he did help Kojo beat the shit out of Darkrai and Cresselia…" Sparky brought up. "So, he is _kinda_ useful on his lonesome."

"That's not on his lonesome, hun…" Luna replied. "You just said Kojo was with him… and Kojo really did majority of the hard work in that battle…"

"Plus, other than that, he hasn't really done much of anything useful," Sola added. "Granted, we're just seven challenges in, but still. If we think toward the future, what would be the point of keeping him in? I mean, if he evolved, maybe, but…"

"Alright fine, Striker is someone of interest, but if we're going by that, again, Connor is just awful…" Morgan commented. "He couldn't even get one gulp down without fainting! Hell, Amethyst drank hers like a champ and they're essentially the same!"

"Actually, Amethyst is much more neutral when compared to others on the team," Sparky opined. "Sure, she's shy, but she completes or at least _tries_ to complete challenges. Connor is the equivalent of having a Magikarp on the team."

 **000**

Connor was splashing around in the lake, as Taylor held him underwater with his tail. The Milotic lifted him up for air, with the Bouffalant panting erratically, searching for breath through the dripping moisture.

"WHAT KIND OF FUCKING TEAM PLAYER ARE YOU!? YOU FUCKING SUCK AT EVERYTHING!" Taylor exclaimed.

"I-I-"

Taylor dunked him back underwater before he could even finish. A few seconds later, he brought him up again. "THERE'S A HIGH FUCKING CHANCE THAT YOU COULD GO HOME TONIGHT, YOU WEAK FUCK!"

"B-But you didn't d-drink your s-smoothie, either…" Connor protested, his tears concealed amongst the water already on his face.

"AT LEAST I WAS TRYING TO PSYCH OUT THE OTHER GUY! YOU LITERALLY TOOK A SIP AND FAINTED!"

"I-I have a weak s-stomach!" he stammered in protest.

Growling, Taylor tossed the Bash Buffalo Pokemon into the nearest tree as hard as he could, not even causing it to snap or crack from the impact. Connor trembled in pain from the blow. He attempted to get up, but he felt a sharp pain in his side. He sniffled as he turned to Taylor, who was glowering at him, almost as if he was testing him.

Connor, taking a large breath, forced himself to stand, despite the intense pain in his side causing him to tear up and breathe shakily.

The Milotic got out of the lake and slithered up to his shaking form. "You'd better get your act together, you useless freak. I'll save your ass this time, but if you fuck up again, you _will_ go home…"

And with that, Taylor slithered away, smacking him with his tail on his way out. Connor was shaking and sobbing.

"LUGIAS! CAST YOUR VOTES AND COME ON DOWN FOR YOUR ELIMINATION CEREMONY!"

Looking down, Connor limped down the path he and Taylor usually took.

From across the lake and in the bushes, Clay could only shake his head. " _Taylor really needs to be careful. Abuse can and will cause anger that'll blow up in his face…"_

 **000**

Dusk had fallen upon the island, with the Lugias sitting in their usual spots. A good amount of them emulously exchanged looks as Victini and Mew floated forward.

"Alright, losers, time for you to lose another player," Victini said mockingly. "And, I've gotta say, it was close. _Very_ close. When Mew calls your name, you're safe."

"Nah, more like, you're still stuck here," Mew explained truthfully. "Now, let's see. Those of you with no votes, Ace, Frosty, Farra, Sola, Sparky, Shine, Chlotz, Kojo, Sally, Carson, Amethyst, Ashton, and Holly. My apologies, you're still in the game."

"Oh yes, we're beaming at that news…" Ace drawled.

"Morgan, you only received one vote, so you're still in as well…" Mew explained.

"And I bet I know where it came from…" Morgan commented, passing Egridos an annoyed look.

"Taylor and Egridos, you each received just two votes, so you guys are also still in," Mew announced, much to the annoyance of the others.

Vixen, Connor, and Striker were the only ones left. Vixen looked down dejectedly, Connor was trembling, and Striker was confused, as were Farra and Frosty.

"Vixen, Connor, and Striker…" Victini began. "Where should we start?"

"Vixen, you're a slut. Everyone here knows it. Everyone outside the game knows it, hell even _you_ know it, which explains why you voted for yourself…"

"Wait… Vix, you did _what_?!" Morgan expressed her concern and shock.

"Connor, you are quite possibly the worst competitor this game has ever seen. Weakness, shyness, and absolutely no friends to back you up. Just face it. You're time here won't be long…"

Connor's lip quivered as he looked down.

"And Striker… you missed out on All-Stars, which is the only reason you're here, you're still a fucking Metapod after twenty years, you're boring, and your only source of stability in this game… are your stalker and an ice cream cone. How are you even still functioning?"

"Oh go screw yourself!" Striker bellowed in annoyance.

"And out of the three of you…" Victini continued. "Two of you got four votes each… and the other got six."

They exchanged nervous glances. "The one going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Striker."

"What?!" Striker exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" both Farra and Frosty blurted out. Farra turned to her teammates with a scowl. "You guys seriously decided to take out Striker instead of an attention whore or a weakling?! What is wrong with you!?"

"No, the question is what is wrong with _you_ ," Egridos retorted. "This is a game, cocoon fucker. And remember, with age comes wisdom…"

Farra scoffed before storming off, leaving Frosty there in silence.

Striker sighed. "I help the team with a few challenges and I still get the boot…"

"Sorry Striker, but thinking further down the line, you'd-"

"-turn into a floater like second season and make it to the merge without doing jack shit…" Egridos finished bluntly.

"You didn't even vote for him!" Morgan exclaimed.

"I can still voice my opinions. Plus, you know that it's true!" Egridos retorted, folding his arms.

"Striker, it's time for you to go…" Mew said. "Congratulations… you're free."

"For how long, though?" Striker muttered to himself as he started hopping toward the dock. Frosty floated after his friend.

 **000**

 **Chlotz: Phew! It was tough, but I pulled it off. I had to convince Kojo, Ace, and ugh… make a deal with Taylor to get his vote. Not sure about Connor, though, he was just sniveling the whole time.**

 **000**

 **Taylor: That dumb buffalo is lucky that the clumsy nimrod came to me for a vote. I was gonna try to convince the 'Tentative Troup' to ax the unfaithful wife since they thrive on being nice and sympathetic or some stupid shit. But, tonight still worked out for the best.**

 **000**

Striker was sitting on the dock next to the suction tube. Frosty was there, while Farra, much to everyone's surprise, was absent.

"Sorry you had to go like this, buddy," Frosty replied.

"It's okay. I'm just glad that I'm able to get away from the bullshit around here…" Striker replied with a chuckle. "But, you're gonna need to be careful. Every time one of us gets eliminated, it's a sign that they're going for the ones that they think won't help or they feel threatened by. So, you're gonna have to do something about that…"

"I already know. I was thinking about it earlier today…" Frosty replied.

Striker chuckled. "Good. And uh… I want you to take care of Farra while I'm not here. Make sure she doesn't lose herself just because of my absence. I still don't really know why she still cares about me so much, but.., Just do it for me, alright?"

Frosty nodded. "I'll try my hardest."

Victini picked up the Metapod, growing tired of the sappy conversation.

"Hey! Put me dow-AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Striker screwed as Victini dropped him into the tube.

Victini looked to the camera. "Who will be the next one to go down the chute? Find out next time on Total… Pokemon...Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys later, BYE!**


	9. Groan Appétit

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the contestants had a rather lighthearted challenge in which they had to create and drink disgusting smoothies. Things heated up, contestants threw up, and some of them may even feel like they fucked up. Amethyst began behaving strangely due to a mental issue, which her friends tried to get to the bottom of with no success. Sally began feeling like she and Freezeo were just being played by Pia and Chlotz. And Striker took the Suck of Shame after Chlotz convinced a few others to vote with them. Craaaazy.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Immediately following Striker's elimination, Frosty decided to honor his request and find the clingy giraffe. He could never understand why Farra was so obsessed with Striker; he was just an average guy.

Due to the elimination ceremony being their alliance meetup spot, Frosty had to _really_ look for her. He checked the loser cabins, Winner's Cabin, and the forest, but there was no sight of her anywhere. After about half an hour of searching, Frosty still hadn't found his friend.

She may have been upset, but she couldn't have disappeared completely. At this point, he was sure that if someone went AWOL they were automatically disqualified.

"Come on… where _is_ she?" he asked no one in particular as he found himself back at the campgrounds. A good majority of campers were settling into either the loser cabins or the Winner's Cabin. He didn't want to stop looking because he really wanted to check on her and make sure she was mentally stable.

He may not have a clue why Farra is so attached to the cocoon, but he knew that it was to the point that she _would_ try to attack anyone who came at him the wrong way, whether it was an entrepreneur, a fellow fan, a waitress, anybody. She cared so much for him that it was borderline unhealthy for _both_ of them!

"Farra!" he shouted out in the middle of the camp, getting the attention of others almost instantly, as it was unexpected.

"Will you give up looking for that salty bitch?" Taylor asked with a glare. "She stormed off when her victim got eliminated; there's no point in searching for her if she's just gonna be bitchy to us when she comes back…"

Frosty gave him a look. "Figures that you'd worry about bitchiness. You guys just voted out Striker because you're afraid of him."

Taylor scoffed and opened the door to the guys' side of the loser cabin. "You wanna repeat that for the guys in the back, here?"

"What the hell's going on, now?" Egridos drawled as he and a few of the guys who were already inside came out.

Frosty paled. He wasn't trying to make himself a target! "Uh…"

"No, go ahead, say what you just said to me…" Taylor goaded, giving him a cocky smirk.

Frosty immediately floated away quickly, not wanting any confrontation. He was trying to prove himself to be _useful_ , not make enemies with anyone. But, now knowing, from the challenges, how Taylor acts, he should have watched what he said.

He found himself at the lake, panting from exerting himself. He groaned in annoyance. "Where the heck is she?!"

Almost as soon as he said that, he noticed a figure walking on the other side of the lake. Being that it was dark, he couldn't quite make out what or who it was, but due to it being on all fours, he assumed that it was Farra.

He floated across and the lake in order to check, and lo and behold, it _was_ her. Frosty was relieved. "Farra! I've been looking all over for you. Are you okay?"

The Girafarig didn't even acknowledge the Snowstorm Pokemon's existence, almost as if she was in a trance. She continued walking around the circumference of the lake, staring down ahead of her the entire time.

"Uh… Farra?" Frosty queried, beginning to follow her.

The Long Neck Pokemon didn't respond to anything said to her, just continuing to walk around the lake.

"Farra, you're scaring me," he said, his voice full of concern. "I understand that you care about Striker, but-"

It seemed that saying that struck something in her, as she stopped moving altogether, staying in place.

"-you can't just mope around, it'll cost us both the game because he wants me to take care of you and make sure you're okay."

After a moment of silence, Frosty could hear chortling. "Care? _Care_? You really have no idea…" she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

Frosty rose a brow. "W-What do you mean?"

"Striker is the only reason I'm alive right now…" she admitted.

Frosty froze. Had he just heard her correctly. "Wait, what?! What are you talking about?!"

"You guys all think that my connection to Striker is just me being a creepy weirdo, but no, he actually kept me from just ODing on painkillers!" Farra exclaimed, turning to face him. "My parents were druggies, my brother was a murderer, and my uncle used to abuse me! I'd been alone in the world for years before I even joined this shit hole show! I was gonna kill myself in my room, but my television showed a promo for the show and it was featuring Striker and anything important he'd want to tell anyone."

"He was able to remind me there was still good in the world and that I could make it through! I fell in love with him in an instant and ever since then, I binged the show to learn everything and became a fan! I'm connected to him because he saved my fucking life! So, I'm sorry that I feel upset about it!" she exclaimed.

Frosty didn't know how to respond to that. He thought that everything was fine with her family, because she actually said that they were okay! He sighed. "Farra, I'm sorry…"

Farra sniffled, keeping a livid glare. "Whoever did this… is going to pay…"

"Farra…" Frosty said warily. "Now Striker told me to make sure you don't lose your mind over him and I-"

Farra approached him, not a single ounce of cheer or forgiveness in her blood. "Get in my way… and I will destroy you…" she threatened, glaring daggers at him.

This struck fear in Frosty, as the Girafarig walked away. Hearing her reasoning, he understood why she was acting so aggressive, but it still didn't make it right. He needed to do something and fast.

He let out a yawn. "Damn you sleep schedule!"

He sighed. "I'll have to do it later…"

 **000**

 **Frosty: I can't help her if she's talking about destroying me if I get in her way! Ugh! Why is this so difficult!?**

 **000**

After that ceremony, Chlotz and Sally returned to their alliance meetup area. Chlotz smiled in accomplishment, while Sally had an apathetic expression.

"Mission accomplished," the Shiftry stated.

"Nice work," Pia commended. "Now, I feel like Morgan would be a pretty suitable candidate for elimination."

Hearing that, alarms rang in Sally's head. Morgan was a very powerful asset to their team. She acted as a leader and gave her best in almost every challenge! Why would her team ever eliminate her this early on instead of someone like Connor, Taylor, or Egridos?

"Huh, didn't think that we'd be going for _her_ so soon, but… okay, I suppose," Chlotz responded. "But, I think that she's in a pretty big alliance, so I don't think that it'll work as easy…"

"Oh?" Pia queried. "A pretty big alliance, huh? And uh, who all is in this alliance?"

"Well, when Sally and I went to try and convince others, we saw Morgan, and that extended family sitting together at the gazebo talking, so I think it's safe to assume…" Chlotz explained.

Pia rubbed under her chin. "Hmm… interesting. That includes Luna, right?"

"Uh, yeah… why?" Chlotz asked.

"Because, out of everyone remaining in that family, Luna is on _my_ team, and already has a few enemies and people who don't care about whether she's here or not because of the Cano thing…" Pia explained. "Which means, I can use the fact that she's in cahoots with players on the other team to my advantage, as well as the pre-existing distaste of her on the team."

Sally could only shake her head upon hearing that plan. This really didn't feel right. Seeing this, Freezeo grew befuddled. "Why are you shaking your head, Sally? This is a good plan!"

"Yes, a plan to push hate and dislike of someone innocent even further…" Sally retorted, folding her arms.

"You have a problem with what we're planning?"

"No, I have a problem with what _you_ are planning…" Sally clarified. "You've already made Luna look like a cheating skank and got Cano eliminated over it, why are you trying to push it further and add on? You know a majority of people here have issues and will hold on to things like that!"

"Then that's their problem," the Hypno responded. "Plus, this is a fucking game, we do what we have to do. And, in addition, when people rewatch this season, they'll know the truth about what happened and get over it…"

Sally sighed. Pia didn't get the point.

"Look, if you don't want to be in the alliance feel free to leave…" Pia said. "Just know that you won't be spared if things come up…"

Hearing that, Sally didn't know whether to take it as a threat or not. She was happy that she was able to leave, but she was also wary about Pia and her tactics. She could very well target _her_ for leaving. An idea popped in her head and a small smile formed on her face, which, in the darkness of the night, was not easily seen.

"Y'know what, that's fine with me," Sally replied. "I'd rather be back home than in this shitfest anyway…"

The Ampharos began walking away, leaving Pia to tighten her glare toward her as she did so. Both Freezeo and Chlotz were surprised by her leaving.

"Uh, what do we do now?" asked Chlotz. "Now it's just me here for the Lugias…"

Pia sighed. "We'll figure something out. For now, let's head back and get some sleep…" she said as she rose up from the stump she was sitting on.

The three of them began heading back to the camp.

 **000**

 **Pia: I don't know Sally's problem is, but all I know is that we need to get rid of her soon. She has information on us, and if she decides to become a snitch, it could be all over for us!**

 **000**

Kojo and Summer were lying on the beach just staring at the stars in the sky. The sand wrapped around their forms as the two chuckled and laughed together.

"Today's challenge fucking sucked…" Kojo commented. "A lot of people hurled, myself included."

"Yeah, I did, too," Summer giggled. "Arceus, my smoothie was fucking awful. Rotten milk, moldy cheese, hair, toilet water…"

Summer shivered. "You had it so much easier…"

Kojo chuckled. "I still lost, though. I knew that going against Marie was going to be tough…"

"Yeah..." Summer responded, scooting closer to him. She rolled onto her side and rubbed a finger on his chest, tickling the ermine a bit.

"Hmph, what're you doing?" Kojo chuckled as he watched the larger female draw circles on his chest with a finger.

"Oh nothing…" she said teasingly before completely climbing atop and straddling him, shocking Kojo. Summer folded her arms with a coy smile while staring down at the Mienshao below her. Kojo was blushing, but a smirk appeared on his face as he sat up. Summer immediately lied down against him as he did, a blush appearing on her own face.

She let out a relaxed sigh. "I love you…" she admitted, nuzzling against the side of his face.

Kojo smiled upon hearing that, wrapping an arm around her. "I love you, too…" he replied, kissing her cheek.

Summer smiled and just rested against him, feeling completely unbothered about their location. Kojo, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel a bit of discomfort. Not from the badger atop of him, but rather the grainy sand underneath him.

Feeling him shuffle, Summer giggled a bit, thinking it was because of her weight. "You okay?" she asked with a playful smirk, sitting up a bit.

"Oh, _you're_ fine, sweetie. Just… can we take this to the cabins or somewhere soft?" he sheepishly queried, sitting up. "This sand sucks…"

Summer laughed. "Sure," she said, getting up. "I'll try to sneak you into the Winner's Cabin with me…"

Kojo rose a brow as he got to his feet and shook his fur off. "Oh, really?"

"Why would I not?" Summer replied with a wink as she started walking back the campgrounds.

Kojo followed her with a smirk.

 **000**

Brian was back in his lair, trying to think of who else may cause him issues. He still had Aura and Luna remaining out of the three he pulled from the lineup on his team, but he was still unsure about how to execute a plan to eliminate them.

"Alright, the mutt and slut still have issues that I can take advantage of, however it shall be hard for me to possibly convince the others to go through it," he said to himself. "An evil genius such as myself shan't be trusted so easily."

He typed away on his keyboard, on the search for old video clips of the show. He needed some inspiration. Looking on the series website, Brian started looking at the 'villain' clips.

He watched all of the actions done by prior villains of the series, himself included. Vile's constant vote switching, the Evil Alliance's formation and scheming, Mason's sabotaging, Ray's abuse and harming of the other competitors, Otto's obsessiveness, there were so many clips that he would end up staying up all night if he was going to watch them all.

He sighed. "Evil is going to take a while…"

 **000**

The next day

 **000**

Buried underneath his covers, Phill was snoozing like a baby. The air conditioning in the cabin had been on full blast, so the warmth he felt while underneath felt like heaven. The soft mattress on the bed cradled him, making him not want to move at all.

" _Phill… Phill..._ " the Raticate heard as he dreamt himself surrounded by Cinccino. He chuckled like an idiot, their soft fur tickling him.

"PHILL!"

The Raticate felt himself get smacked, causing him to fall out of the bed, covers still over him. He groaned in pain. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed, uncovering himself to see where the blow came from.

"Sorry, dude," he heard as he saw that it was Klavier who inflicted the blow.

"You know, you could have just shaken me awake…" Phill replied, climbing back onto the bed and wrapping himself up. "What is it?"

"Dude, it's almost noon!" the Gliscor replied. "The rest of us got up hours ago…"

Phill blinked, not seeing the issue that Klavier was trying to make clear. "They didn't call us down for the challenge yet, did they?"

"Uh, well… no, but still!" Klavier replied. "I need _someone_ to hang with and uh… I'm not sure how well I fit in around here…"

Phill, upon hearing that, sighed. On one hand, he wanted to just appease Klavier's worriedness, but on the other hand… he wanted to go back to sleep. He was a good friend, so, he decided to just get up.

"Curse my kindness…" he muttered as he threw off his covers. "Fine… What do you want to do?"

"Well, we can try to talk to a few of the girls… y'know… get relationship things going," Klavier suggested, hiding a blush.

Seeing this, Phill rose a brow, growing suspicious. It wasn't like Klavier to say or want to go into something like that. "Oh? And what's brought this up?"

"W-What do you mean?" he asked sheepishly.

"You've never showed any interest in wanting to talk to any of the girls before, so I'm just a bit curious…" Phill urged. "Does the friendly neighborhood scorpion have a _crush_?"

Klavier blushed, looking down sheepishly, confirming Phill's suspicions. The Raticate erupted in laughter, making Klavier moan internally from embarrassment. The only girl he'd found interest in for the longest time was Sabrina, so it was already a bit stressful for him to think that he had feelings for another girl.

"So, who's the lucky girl?" Phill asked, curious as to what girl Klavier quickly developed feelings for.

Klavier sighed. "H-Holly…"

Phill rose a brow. Holly? He had expected it to be someone like… uh… Going over the females remaining in the game, Phill came to the realization that Holly probably was the one that made the most sense.

"Wow. I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised," Phill replied as the two of them started walking out of the room. "What made you start liking her? You two have barely even interacted…"

"Well, we actually interacted for a few minutes or seconds during the challenge yesterday…" Klavier explained. "I mean, it wasn't a normal conversation or anything. I ran into a tree and she checked up on me…"

"Huh," Phill thought out loud. "That's uh… pretty weird. So, you started gaining feelings for her… because she checked up on you?"

"No," Klavier responded. "During the challenge, I was thinking about how social games get people further in the game. She was in the same vicinity, so I was already just thinking about talking to her and maybe becoming acquaintances or friends. After I ran into the tree and she came over to check on me, we left and started chatting for a bit before going to the beach."

Phill smirked. "So you guys got a bit friendly toward each other during the challenge. Nice."

"Yeah," Klavier replied with a blush. "So, uh, could you maybe… act as a wingman for me? Just this once?"

"Klavier, I love ya, but you're asking a guy that practically repels women to be a wingman…" Phill replied, giving him an earnest look.

"You'll do fine, bro," Klavier said, rubbing the top of his head with a claw.

"Wait, how the hell am I gonna be a wingman when there's no ugly chick keeping her preoccupied?" Phill queried. "Almost every girl here is pretty in their own way…"

"Oh… right," Klavier started as they exited the cabin. "Well, could you still come for support? I just really need someone else around this time…"

Phill sighed. "Alright fine…"

"Thanks," Klavier replied.

 **000**

 **Phill: Klavier's lucky. He may actually have a chance with Holly. Meanwhile I'm never gonna get anyone. Oh well...**

 **000**

Sabrina was standing on the edge of the cliff, watching the waves of the ocean crash against the rock exposure. She sighed, still disappointed in herself because of her performance in the previous challenge.

Even though they won, she still felt like she let people down. She heard the flapping of wings and groaned to herself. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

Fez landed on the cliff and took a deep breath. He was decent distance away from her, as he didn't want to risk her completely pummeling him.

"Sabrina!" he called. "Can we talk?!"

"Go the fuck away, Gary!" Sabrina shouted back, continuing to look over the edge. "You fucked up in the last challenge, so I'm not giving you another chance!"

"That's not fair and you know it! You failed, too!" Fez said, taking a few steps forward.

" _My_ possible success or failure wasn't incorporated in our deal!" she shouted back. "So, I implore you to get the fuck away from me before I rip you a new cloaca!"

"Why are you so hell-bent on hating and hurting me?!" Fez queried, stepping closer. "I apologized and want to make things work out between us!"

"I… don't… CARE!" Sabrina bellowed, turning to him abrasively. "You had a chance, and you decided to fucking cheat on me! So fuck you and everything you stand for!"

Hearing that was just like being stabbed in the heart with a large blade. He glowered at her. "You know what… fine. You want to act like a scorned bitch for the rest of your fucking life, go ahead! Don't come crying to anyone when don't find anyone else who loves you as much as me…"

Fez took off, with Sabrina huffing before turning back around, facing the cliff. She could care less about how he felt. When she learned that he cheated on her, all emotion flew the coop. He could try as much as he wanted, but nothing he did was going to change her mind.

Her stomach began growling again; she hadn't eaten since 6 in the morning, so being that it was almost noon, she was understandably famished. With a sigh, she started flying back to the Winner's Cabin.

 **000**

Back at LeGrae, Egridos was complaining about his team once again. He was pretty much drowned out, however, as Dhaunt and Marion playing Go Fish, and Lassie was spectating. Seeing that he was being ignored, Egridos glowered at the three of them in annoyance.

"Uh… _hello_!? I'm venting here!" Egridos bellowed. "Why do I have you guys as friends and a wife if you're just gonna ignore me?"

Marion decided to stay out of it, having been told by Dhaunt how Lassie was feeling. Ignorance was something that definitely shouldn't have been brought up by the Coffin Pokemon.

"Oh… so now you have a problem with ignorance?" Lassie queried, folding her arms. "You've been ignoring me for years, so I don't see why _you're_ so upset…"

"Ignoring you? We're married! We live in the same house! We sleep in the same freaking bed!" Egridos exclaimed. "How do I ignore you?"

"You're out almost every fucking night! _You_ start arguments over insignificant bullshit! We haven't had sex in months, and you haven't said anything about love to me in the past decade!" Lassie exclaimed.

Egridos, hearing all of that, groaned. "Are you fucking serious right now? You're really bringing up shit that doesn't matter in order to try and make you guys ignoring me look reasonable?"

Lassie gaped. Did he just say… none of that mattered? All this time they spent together… Was it all a waste of her time? The Froslass vanished, sorrow feeling her hollow body.

"Dude, what the heck?!" Dhaunt exclaimed after seeing her go. "She's trying to be open with you! She has problems with what you guys' relationship has turned into!"

"What has it turned into?!" Egridos exclaimed. "What? So because I decide to go out at night, I'm a bad husband?"

"NO! She feels like you don't love her anymore!" Dhaunt exclaimed, wanting to smack his friend for his ignorance.

Egridos remained silent, unsure about how to respond to that. Lately, he hadn't really been thinking about relationships or emotions, or even really love for that matter. He was moreso focused on his career and not his wife.

He sighed. "Well, I don't know what to say to that…"

Marion and Dhaunt were shocked to hear that. They expected him to try and defend his case or prove them wrong, but… this was just sad.

"Wait, wait… what do you mean you don't know what to say?" Dhaunt queried in disbelief. "Do you still love her?"

Egridos looked down. "If I'm being honest… I don't know," he replied.

"Dude… come on," Marion spoke.

"What do you want me to say?!" Egridos asked, raising his voice. "I can't explain how I feel these days! I've been too busy for emotions and love all of that bullshit, alright?! I just want to enjoy my life and make sure that _I'm_ taken care of. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish, but that's just how things have been going, lately…."

"Well dude… you have to tell her," Dhaunt responded.

"Says who?"

"Y-You can't just keep dragging her along! She'll end up dumping y-"

"I'd rather have _that_ happen than break her fucking heart!" Egridos exclaimed. "Look, just… if you see her again, tell her to come to me and she can let it all out. I'm gonna go float around the island for a while and get my head straight or whatever…"

Egridos started floating away, leaving the Gengar and Banette alone. Dhaunt sat down and just sighed before turning to his own wife. "You know I love you, right?"

Marion smiled and flopped over his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his face. She kissed his cheek. "Yeah. I know…"

 **000**

 **Dhaunt: Wow. I never thought that it'd be that serious.**

 ***sighs* Well, whatever happens, I wish the best for both of them.**

 **000**

Amethyst was sitting at the gazebo, alone. She had her head plopped on the old, wooden table as she shallowly breathed while staring at the pathway leading to it. Sleeping in the Loser Cabin didn't help her mind settle at all; she only saw Sven as an abuser once again! She sighed in disappointment, not knowing why the terrors kept occurring. All she knew was that she needed to be alone to try and think.

Holly, Carson, and Ashton slowly approached the gazebo where their friend sat. Ashton and Carson were insistent on leaving her alone and giving her space, but Holly was far more persistent. She couldn't stop thinking about Amethyst's issue. She was such a sweet girl; she didn't need to be dealing with things of this nature.

"Holly, I really think that we should just leave her alone and give her some space," Ashton brought up. "Any time we ask, she just leaves or doesn't answer."

"Ashton, what would you do if Raiden was acting like this?" Holly queried tonelessly.

Already knowing where she was going with this, Ashton didn't reply and instead looked down at the ground. Seeing that she got the point, Holly nodded. "Exactly. You'd do everything to try and help him because you love him…"

"That's different, Holly," Ashton replied. "Raiden's my husband and I'm going to pester him about it regardless. Amy is a good friend, and if she doesn't want to talk about it, she shouldn't have to. As much as it hurts to say that, she needs to work this out on her own right now…"

"We need to help her!" Holly exclaimed. "I don't like seeing anyone in pain, physically or mentally! If you guys aren't willing to help a friend, then you aren't friends at all!"

Carson and Ashton took a step back after Holly's outburst. They could see that this was _really_ upsetting her, as tears began to form momentarily as she panted softly.

Ashton, using her vines, wrapped Holly up and brought her in for a hug. Carson pat her back gently.

"It'll be okay, Holly," Carson said soothingly. "Just try to calm down…"

 **-000-**

After a while of searching and returning to the campgrounds, it seemed like Klavier and Phill were never going to find Holly. But, lo and behold, there she was… being comforted by Carson and Ashton.

This brought concern to the Gliscor, while Phill was just curious. The two of them approached the group hesitantly, not wanting to cause an issue.

"Uh… hi," Klavier greeted before his eyes focused on a weeping Holly, who was wrapped in Ashton's vines. "What's wrong with Holly?"

"Uh… she's just… really passionate about trying to help Amethyst out with her _problem_ …" Carson explained.

Klavier nodded in understanding and noticed that Holly looked at him teary-eyed. He felt really bad, but he had a feeling why this was affecting her so much.

"Uh… could I… maybe talk to her for a bit?" Klavier queried. "Maybe I could help her…"

"Well, I'm not really sure…"

"It's okay…" Holly replied, sniffling. "You can let me go, Ashton."

Ashton rose a brow in confusion, but obliged, releasing the Swoobat, who sighed and wiped a few tears away.

She started flying toward the forest, with Klavier following. This left Phill alone with Ashton and Carson.

Feeling awkward, he glanced over to the gazebo and saw Amethyst's dismal look. Then, he thought back on her behavior during the challenge. "So… what's up with her?"

"We don't know… we've been trying to figure that out…"

 **-000-**

The Fang Scorpion and Courting Pokemon landed in a small opening in the middle of the forest.

"Are you okay?" Klavier asked in concern.

Holly let out a deep sigh. "I just want to help Amethyst, but she keeps pushing us away when we ask her what's wrong."

Klavier nodded. "Holly, you can't help people who don't want to be helped. Sometimes you just need to give them space…"

"I know, but… "

"You feel like you _need_ to help because of a mistake you made years ago!" Klavier replied. "Now I understand it, but-"

"No, you _don't_!" Holly exclaimed with a glare. She huffed. "Why the hell did I even tell you about that?!"

Klavier could only shrug in response. "It was on your mind?"

Holly didn't respond, looking down as her glare slowly softened. She sighed. "I just want to make sure she's okay…" she stated. "Is that too much to ask?"

"No…" Klavier replied soothingly. "But, just try to give her some space. Resist your urges and just focus on the game or… on something else, alright?"

Holly nodded. "Alright. Thanks…"

"No problem," Klavier replied with a faint blush. He looked away sheepishly. "Uh, I know this may sound selfish or too fast, but, would you like to-"

When he looked back, he saw that Holly was already gone. He groaned. "Fuck me…"

 **000**

Marie was wandering through the forest, searching for the gym that Victini claimed was on the island when they first got here. She always felt so bored in the mornings; the only thing she'd do was prep for meetings with nothing to talk about or sit on the beach until they called them down. She wanted something to do, so what better thing to do than get fit?

The Feraligatr had no idea where she was going, as the direction of the gym wasn't made clear. She continued walking around, scratching at almost every tree in her way out of vexation.

As she looked around, she started hearing another voice in the forest; she thought that she was losing her mind. As she proceeded through the forest, she could hear the voice getting louder and more… familiar.

" _Are you fucking serious? These fucks could have at least put up a sign or…"_

Before the remark was made, Marie found herself bumping into a familiar, yet annoying, body. Glaring down, she saw that the source of the voice was Anthony. She grumbled to herself.

"What the hell are _you_ doing out here?" Anthony queried, confused as to why she was in the forest. "Shouldn't you been on the beach complaining about life?"

Marie scoffed. "Shouldn't you be scrubbing your mouth out with soap?"

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Please. Why would I do that? If anything, _you_ should do that so that your breath doesn't smell so rancid…" he retorted.

Marie glowered at him. "You should use it so that you can cleanse your mouth from all of the bullshit, you're spewing!"

"LAAAAME," Anthony groaned. "That response has pretty much been overdone at this point…"

"What is your fucking deal?!" Marie growled, clenching her fists. "Why do you insist on antagonizing me, knowing full well that I can and will destroy you?"

"You'll never go through with it…" Anthony called her bluff. "Also, I think I've already proven that I'm just as, if not, stronger than you think I am…"

"Oh please. Picking me up doesn't make strong…" Marie countered. "You probably couldn't even take me in a battle…"

In response, Anthony charged forward, pinning her against a tree. "I think you should reconsider that statement…" he stated with a competitive flare in his eyes.

Marie wasn't impressed; he had caught her by surprise after all, so this really didn't prove anything. "I don't take it back…" she replied, looking him dead in the eye.

Anthony smirked. "I figured you wouldn't. Looks like we'll have to figure this out later…" he said rather suggestively. Marie caught this and grew a bit suspicious and confused.

"You mean with a battle, right?" she asked in assurance.

"Of course!" Anthony responded almost immediately, releasing his grip on her arms, his tone sounding offended. "Ugh, what made you think different?"

Marie rose a brow with a scoff. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked, hands on her hips. "I'll have you know that there are guys that'd love to ravage me…"

"The last one that was doing that cheated on you, and I'm sure that no one else here is that desperate…" Anthony retorted. "Well, other than Phill…"

"Anthony, you can go fuck yourself with a rusty pipe!" Marie snapped.

"Sorry, I'm not gay or bi... " Anthony retorted. "And uh… tetanus isn't something I'd like, so…"

"COMPETITORS! COME ON DOWN TO THE GAZEBO! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!" they heard Victini announce.

"Yeah, we _really_ have to continue this conversation," Anthony said sarcastically as he started heading back from the direction he came.

Marie growled in annoyance and decided to retrace her steps and head back to the campgrounds.

 **000**

 **Marie: I. hate. him...**

 **000**

 ***Anthony shrugged.* Not my fault she makes it too easy…**

 **000**

All of the contestants made their way to the gazebo, where they saw a large, HD television sitting on one end of the gazebo. There were numerous paper plates sitting on the long, wooden tables.

Seeing the set up, a few of the contestants grew worried about what they believed the challenge was.

Once each contestant made his or her presence known, Victini appeared in a puff of smoke between the two tables. "Welcome, peasants, to your next challenge."

" _Now_ we're peasants, huh?" Taylor responded. "We've been fucking peasants ever since we've got here!"

"Says you…" Aura scoffed.

"What's with the TV?" Morgan queried. "Are you gonna make us watch each other have sex?"

"Why?! Why would you give him that idea?!" Sabrina squawked.

"Oh pipe down," Victini interrupted. "I've set up the website so that subscribers would have to _pay_ to watch you guys screw. Why would I show it to you if it's not bringing in more profit to me?"

"...You're a sick, sick prick, you know that?" Summer commented, folding her arms while glaring daggers at the Victory Pokemon.

"I'm also a rich, rich, prick thanks to you horny losers, so…" Victini retorted. "Now, the television is all a part of you guys' next challenge."

As he said that, Mew floated up with a green and blue paper cup with a lid and straw coming out of it. He took a sip, causing the slurping sound to assault the eardrums of the others. Victini gave him a look of annoyance, as did a few of the contestants, who had a look of 'seriously?' on their faces.

Seeing the looks he was getting, Mew simply rolled his eyes. "You explain your bullshit challenge, yet?"

"I was getting to it…" Victini growled before clearing his throat. He turned back to the contestants. "In an homage to the video watching challenge from season one, as well as the eating challenges overall, today's challenge will be a tolerance challenge…"

"Uh… tolerance?" Ace queried, a bit confused about the phrasing.

"Yes, tolerance," Victini replied. "You all will have to eat what you are given, whether you like it or not, and then have to watch a clip or video that will _hopefully_ , cause the food to come back out of your system. If that happens, you are out of the competition. The team that has the most players left will win immunity, and the losers will be sending someone home. "

"So, you're making us eat and watch gross videos, and if we get sick, we're out…" Marie explained in simpler terms.

"Yes, thank you for taking the sophistication out of it…" Victini responded, deadpan. "Now, everyone take your seats and Zahku will be ready to serve you all your first courses…"

 **000**

Everyone took their seats at their respective tables. After a while, Zahku approached with a large rolling cart.

Everyone watched with hesitation, expecting the food to be disgusting. Zahku rolled the cart between the two tables and lifted the lid off of the platter that was on it. Unveiling it revealed…

"Wait… sandwiches?" Sola asked, raising a brow, seeing the platter.

There was a circular arrangement of sandwiches, each one with a brown and purple substance between them, each one with an olive and a toothpick over them.

"Huh, I guess these aren't going to be horrendous foods like every other thing they serve us…" Annie commented as Zahku began sitting a sandwich on each contestants' plate.

After a minute or so, all of the sandwiches were placed on plates, with a few being left over. Mew went ahead and grabbed one before floating back up and starting to eat it, much to Victini's chagrin.

"Alright, you all may begin eating your sandwiches when I say go," Victini announced. "And, to make things even _more_ interesting, the last person to finish eating their food in each round is out of the competition as well."

"Oh come on!" Chlotz exclaimed.

"In three… two… one… GO!" the fox exclaimed.

Almost immediately, the miniature sandwiches were being devoured with minimal effort, when for the most part.

"Why does it have to be fucking _crunchy_?" Fez mumbled as, while others had quickly finished theirs in just one or two bites, he still had half of a sandwich on his plate.

The only other plate that had something on it was Farra's, who held her distant, vexed expression. She hadn't touched the sandwich at all and wasn't planning on it, either.

"Farra, what are you doing?" Frosty queried in worry. "You need to-"

Farra gave him a death glare, effectively silencing the Snowstorm Pokemon.

"Giraffe bitch! Eat… the… SANDWICH!" Taylor demanded.

Farra didn't even respond to him, she just continued watching Fez finish his. Her team was growing irritated at her because of this.

"Farra, if we end up losing this, you're gonna be the one eliminated for not even trying!" Morgan made known.

Farra gave her a look, as if daring her to go through with it.

"Farra!" the Girafarig heard. She looked up at the two hosts. "You're out…"

With a sneer, she proceeded to leave the gazebo, resulting in her team glaring at her as she left.

 **000**

 **Frosty: Okay, I don't know what her deal is, but we've gotta make sure that we win this now. She just put a huge target on her back.**

 **000**

"Alright," Victini continued as he turned on the television. "First video: A Snorlax's Cyst-uation."

"That's terrible wordplay," Anthony commented. "If you can even call it that…"

"No one asked for your commentary," Marie responded, not even turning back to look at him.

 _ **On the television, it could be seen that a Snorlax was lying on his stomach with a large, abnormal, veiny bump on its back.**_

"Oh no, no, no, NO!" Klavier exclaimed, covering his eyes. "I hate pimple pop videos!"

"If you look away, you're out of the game," Victini stated. "Plus, I've gathered way worse videos than this…"

"Joy…" Shine remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, so we can't even look away for a second?!" Frosty exclaimed.

" _ **Come on, hurry the hell up and just pop it already!" the Snorlax bellowed, its voice indicating that it was a male.**_

" _ **Alright, alright, keep your panties on…" a Smeargle said, approaching with a pin.**_

"Oh Arceus, why?" Chlotz groaned, forcing himself to stay put and watch the screen.

"This is quite possibly the lamest thing I've ever had to do…" Phill moaned.

 _ **The Smeargle stabbed the large bump with the pin, and immediately a small stream of brownish-black fluid started oozing from the puncture point.**_

 _ **The Smeargle punctured it four more times, in a row, as more of the viscous fluid streamed out.**_

" _ **Oh Arceus, what the fuck, dude?!" the Smeargle exclaimed as he grabbed a paper towel. He hesitantly pressed down on it, and immediately a jet of brownish-black pus blasted the Smeargle in the face, staining its fur a bit.**_

Klavier, Connor, and Chlotz seemed to be the only ones affected, as they immediately started to gag, while everyone else was either laughing or just held looks of disgust.

Egridos, being one of the few laughing, couldn't help but comment. "Well, serves him right. Should've went to that pimple popping bitch!"

Connor felt really faint, but he remembered Taylor's warning. If he screwed up, he'd make sure he went home. Connor only shuddered and swallowed the vomit that was coming up.

Chlotz and Klavier, tears in their eyes, kept their lunch down as well, much to Victini's surprise.

"Wow, you guys are actually gonna be tougher to break than I thought…" he said with a smile. "Great! Now I get to show the _really_ nasty stuff…"

Immediately, nearly everyone's face paled. Sola seemed to be the only one who didn't care, but seeing everyone else's nervous looks brought her confusion. "Guys, seriously, out of all of the guts, gore, disgusting foods, challenges, and vomit we've seen on this show, I'd think a good amount of us would be desensitized by now…"

"We're sorry that we don't associate with psychopaths and killers like you…" Sabrina retorted.

Sola just rolled her eyes; she stood by her point.

 **-000-**

"Alright, next course…" Victini said, clapping his hands as Zahku rolled the cart up onto the gazebo once again. This time, the tray seemed to be much larger.

"Wait, we seriously _have_ to keep eating!?" Aspen queried.

"Yep. How else would this be difficult?" Victini responded with a chortle. He turned to Zahku. "Serve it up, Zahku…"

Zahku lifted the lid, and immediately, nearly everyone's eyes lit up. There were multiple plates of mashed potatoes with gravy, steak, and asparagus on the platter.

"Okay, this is just amazing, mate…" Titan remarked, eyeing the plates of food hungrily as Zahku placed them in front of everyone.

"I don't even think this is a challenge anymore," Sally giggled as she received her plate. "This is just them feeding us real food for once and showing us video clips."

"Alright, remember, despite what you may think… this _is_ a challenge, so hurry and eat up," Victini said. "If you take too long, then you're out."

"Oh, come on, you're just saying everything gets us out, now!" Sparky exclaimed.

"Just eat and try not to savor it, because you're gonna keep getting more and seeing more awful things that _hopefully_ make it all come back up," Victini replied. "So… eat!"

All of the competitors began digging into their second course. The potatoes were rather lumpy, but the succulent flavor balance it had with the gravy made up for it. The steak was a bit tough, but still juicy, and the asparagus was steamed and had a taste that resembled bitter cauliflower and celery, but when placed with the potatoes, tasted remarkable.

Unlike the previous round, nearly everyone was able to finish their plates. The only difficult parts were the steak, and the only ones who still had pieces on their plates were Amethyst and Fez, again. Amethyst had to be fed by Ashton, as she didn't want to just use her face and dig in.

Ashton had her last bite of steak on a fork, held by her vine. She was still trying to get the piece she had in her mouth down. Once it was, she bit onto the next piece and started chewing again.

Fez was having a bit of a tough time with his last bit of steak, as it got stuck in his beak and it agitated and distracted him.

"Fez! Eat the rest of the damn steak!" Summer exclaimed. "You only have a little bit left!"

"It's stuck in my-"

"Fez!" Victini interrupted. "You're out!"

With a groan, Fez prepared to fly away from the table. While he did this, Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Typical…" she muttered.

Hearing that, Fez sighed and proceeded away from the gazebo. Once he was gone, the challenge progressed without a hitch.

"Alright, next video: Idiot bathes in barf and shit…" Victini announced, pressing a button on the remote. Hearing that title, everyone paled as the video played.

 _ **A Hitmonlee was seen walking to a septic tank in the middle of a factory. Uncovering it, it was revealed to be a greenish-brown sludgy substance. The Hitmonlee stuck his hand inside before taking it back out and rubbing it down his face.**_

"Nope!" Chlotz exclaimed, immediately looking away.

"What the hell is wrong with people?!" Summer exclaimed, watching the Hitmonlee intently.

 _ **The Hitmonlee rubbed both of his arms and his legs in the fecal matter and vomit**_. " _ **Mmm… amazing…" he groaned, lathering himself.**_

Connor gagged, as did a few of the others. A select few, such as Anthony, Egridos Sola, Brian, and Phill expressed little to no reaction.

"What evil does this fool think that lathering himself in the fecal matter of others will bring?" Brian queried, folding his arms.

"There is no evil, this guy is just a complete moron," Pia commented, holding her stomach.

 _ **The Hitmonlee jumped into the tank and started swimming and rubbing himself in the disgusting fluids.**_

"Nope, NO! I'm not dealing with this!" Klavier exclaimed, turning away.

"Yeah, I'm out, too…" Dhaunt covering his eyes.

"Oh come on, you pansies, it's just a dumbass bathing in shit!" Aura stated, closing her eyes in annoyance. "Some of the people in this fucking show have had to do surgery on dead bodies, take laxatives and do a course, and a bunch of other bullshit!"

"That's pretty much what I said…"

"You don't matter," Aura replied simply.

Carson turned away just as the video ended, which Victini caught sight of.

"Alright, Chlotz, Carson, Aura, Dhaunt, and Klavier, you guys are all out…"

"WHAT?!" Aura exclaimed.

"You closed your eyes…" Victini replied.

"Because these idiots were being pissy over a-"

"Ah!" Victini interrupted, raising a hand up. "Don't wanna hear it. You looked away, so you're out…"

Aura growled as she left, along with the other four that were eliminated, much to each team's chagrin.

 **-000-**

"Alright, round three…" Victini announced. He was surprised that thirty of them were still in the running. He really expected the second video to weed them out quickly. He gained a smirk. "Alright, Zahku. Next course!"

Almost everyone groaned. The steak, potatoes, and asparagus that they had eaten just under ten minutes ago barely had time to digest.

"Can we get some kind of break so that what we just ate has time to digest?" Ace questioned, rubbing his stomach.

"Nope. You guys will have to throw up eventually…" Victini replied with a smug smile.

Mew sighed. "You're sick, you know that, right?"

"Why thank you…" Victini responded, taking a bow. Mew rolled his eyes.

"And just so you guys know, if you feel sick, I had the liberty of placing buckets underneath each table that you guys can use," Mew replied, much to the surprise and anger of Victini.

"WILL YOU STOP MAKING THINGS BORING AS ALL SHIT?!" Victini bellowed.

"You're showing gross videos that are barely having an effect on them, serving them tasty food continuously to make them sick, and waiting for them to vomit or look away so that they can be eliminated from the challenge," Mew recalled. "Yeah, I doubt me giving them puke buckets takes away from the lazy, raunchiness of this challenge…"

Victini mocked his voice as the pink feline vanished from view, presumably heading back to the Hall of Origins.

None of the contestants said anything, just wanting to get this challenge over with.

Zahku rolled his cart up for a third time as a question arose. If there was no kitchen… where the hell was the food coming from?!

"Wait, I just thought about it…" Ashton started. "There's no kitchen, so how is the food being prepared so fresh?"

As soon as that question arose, everyone grew a bit skeptical.

Victini only smirked in response. "Don't you worry about that. It's still good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but knowing that smile of yours, this food is probably laced with something!" Morgan growled.

Victini chuckled as Zahku removed the lid of the next platter. The plates underneath the lid held pork chops and green beans. At this point, everyone was extremely hesitant to eat the scrumptious looking food.

As Zahku sat the plates in front of each of them. The delightfully odorous food, and the fact that this was a challenge, was giving them a reason to want to eat, but at the same time, Victini's smile and the fact that there was no kitchen anywhere on the island made them very wary.

"Alright, remember that you have to finish _everything_ ," Victini replied. "You can begin in three… two… one… GO!"

Everyone began eating, albeit very hesitantly. A good amount of them were still full from their previous meal, making it very difficult to continue eating.

"Okay, this is unfair," Lassie replied. "If we keep eating, we're gonna just get sick in general and it won't be from your stupid videos!"

Victini shrugged. "Who cares? You're getting fed aren't you?"

"And what if our stomachs rupture?" Shine asked. "The stomach can hold only up to one-and-a-half to three liters of stuff before possibly rupturing…"

"Oh shut the hell up and eat, bitch!" Taylor growled, making Shine raise a brow. "Not everyone's stomach is as petite as yours…"

"And not everyone tapes paper to themselves to appear to be the opposite gender…" Ace retorted before taking a bite of the green beans.

Taylor scoffed. "Both of us already look like bitches, so I don't know why the hell you're even speaking, fag."

Ace chortled. "Look who's talking…"

"I AIN'T GAY! WILL YOU FUCKERS GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS!?"

"The more aggressive you become with that claim…" Phill said before continuing to chew momentarily. "...the less we're inclined to believe you."

Taylor glared at the rat before continuing to use his tendrils to eat his food.

The contestants continued trying to force the food down, and while it was good, their stomachs were starting to hurt.

Eventually, it came down to Cramad and Freezeo. The Cryogonal had been using his chain to break down the food, but it was still rather hard for him to continue. Meanwhile, the Parasect was just very full. She never was that big of an eater.

"Ugh…" Freezeo groaned as devoured the last green bean on his plate. "Done!"

Victini smirked. "Cramad, you're out…"

Cramad sighed. "Great…" she muttered.

She moved away from the table and headed back to the campgrounds with the other eliminated players.

"Now, next video: Enormous intestinal blockage removal," Victini said, turning on the television.

 _ **A group of surgeons was surrounding a patient whose intestines were outside of his or her body. There was a huge lump in the middle of their intestines.**_

"Uh… considering that we watched a few others do this shit two seasons ago, I'm pretty good," Luna commented confidently as she watched the video.

"Yeah, this is… pretty tame to be honest…" Annie commented.

 _ **Picking up a scalpel, the main doctor sliced through the area of intestine where the large bulge was located.**_

 _ **The doctor moved the parts to the side and immediately something brown and black was seen. Lifting it up, it was revealed to be a large, black silicone sex toy! The brown sections were simply globs of fecal matter.**_

"Hey look, they found a toy for Lila," Egridos commented.

Morgan gave Egridos a look of annoyance; the Lila jokes were pretty much overdone at this point. "I bet it'd be more than you'd ever give Lassie…"

Egridos prepared to retort, but he gazed over to Lassie, who just remained silent, not even looking at him. "Uh… now's not a good time, bitch of magic mutt..." he said, glaring back at her.

"Morgan! Egridos! You two are out…"

"Oh fuck you, dick-head!" Morgan growled.

"No thanks," Victini responded. "Remember. No vomiting and no looking away from the television once the video starts…"

Just as he said that, the video clip ended.

"Okay, so Morgan and Egridos, you two are out of this round…"

Morgan grumbled as she got up and headed away from the gazebo. Egridos followed suit, snickering at her screw-up.

"Alright, time to see how each team is doing…" Victini said as he examined each team's table. "Loser Lugias, you guys have thirteen players remaining, and Honorable Ho-Ohs, you guys have fourteen."

"We're gonna be here all day, I just know it…" Marion groaned, shaking her head.

 **-000-**

"Round four!" Victini announced as a collective groan was emitted by the contestants.

Zahku rolled the cart up once again as everyone watched in interest and worry. They were getting extremely full, but the allure of the food was all too great.

Zahku removed the lid, and numerous slices of golden vanilla cake were seen underneath. There were each slathered in a sweet, cream cheese frosting and drizzled in a Razz Berry glaze.

"Dessert? Wow, are we ending the challenge early?" Kojo chuckled as Zahku began passing out the sweet dessert.

"Of course not," Victini chuckled. "Just enhancing your taste buds and making things harder. Desserts usually make people feel fat and sick once other things have been eaten in large quantities…"

"Wait, did you just say enhance our taste buds, mate?" Titan queried, a bit skeptical.

"Oh, yeah," Victini replied, as if it wasn't a big deal. "This cake is gonna make everything you eat after it taste absolutely awful, so this should be interesting…"

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Vixen yelped.

"Nothing," Victini responded with a shrug. "What's wrong with _you_?!"

Zahku placed the last plate of cake in front of Sally. He then went back to his cart and rolled it away from the gazebo.

"Alright, there's twenty-seven of you left, so let's get that shaved down," Victini stated. "Three… two… one… go!"

As much as they all despised the idea of what the cake would do to them, this was still a challenge and each team needed to win.

Out of everyone, it seemed that Brian seemed to be having trouble devouring the delicious dessert. A good amount of his teammates noticed this.

"Blob boy! Eat the fucking cake!" Sabrina bellowed in conviction, not wanting to lose another player. So far two out of three of the players who finished last came from their team; it didn't need to happen again!

"Evil's body is full of the previous delectable nutritional foodstuffs that were served!" Brian exclaimed in his defense. "In addition, sugary fat-filled treats do not sit well in the stomach of evil. It causes unbearing flatulence and stomach pain."

"WE'RE ALL FULL AND YOU'RE A GUY, FARTING IS A COMMON OCCURRENCE!" Lassie exclaimed angrily. "Now eat the fucking cake!"

Ashton fed Amethyst her last bite of cake, and after a few chews, the Amaura shuddered. Seeing this, Victini stifled a laugh and turned to the Ho-Ohs' table. "Brian, you're out…"

"Curses!" Brian growled. "I shall have my revenge!"

He floated away from the table, his arms folded in agitation. His teammates glowered at him as he left.

"Alright, now that you've got your fill of cake and your taste buds are altered, let's move on to the next video: Aftermath cleanup of Kangaskhan mother and child crushed by falling telephone pole," Victini read in a cheerful manner. Meanwhile, everyone else had a look of extreme concern and shock.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, you're actually-"

Immediately upon seeing the images flashed onto the screen, Connor couldn't handle it anymore. He ducked his head underneath the table and wretched aggressively.

"Mother of Arceus, what the hell, Victini?!" Phill exclaimed, looking away from the grisly scene on the television.

Pia had to keep herself from vomiting, as did Vixen, Ace, Frosty, and Sally.

Amethyst almost instantly leaned into Ashton like a child, her eyes clenched shut to avoid watching more. Ashton, feeling this, looked down in worry, as she felt the Amaura trembling. Holly saw this and quickly draped a wing over her.

Marion had to look away, it just wasn't right. Annie picked up her bucket and immediately vomited into it

"Victini! You are awful! This is fucking sick!" Shine exclaimed, glaring daggers at him.

Just as she said that, the clip ended and Victini held his same cheerful expression. "Alright, that weeded a _lot_ of you out! Let's see… Connor, Phill, Amethyst, Ashton, Holly, Marion, Annie, and _Shine_. You guys are all out…"

"Good!" Holly snapped. "I don't wanna be around when you decide to show babies getting crushed!"

The eight of them that were eliminated left without much issue, though it was a fact that the images would stay with a few of them.

"Alright, eighteen of you remaining," Victini started. "Ten for the Ho-Ohs and eight for the Lugias."

"You are sick, sick fuck, you know that?" Marie stated tonelessly. "There is a place is the Distortion World for you…"

"Y'know, after being chained up and enveloped by complete darkness for three years, I have to say… you saying that has no effect on me whatsoever…" he replied in the same toneless voice. His chipper voice soon returned, though as he introduced the next round.

 **-000-**

"Alright, round five…" Victini announced as Zahku rolled the cart up to the gazebo once again.

At this point, everyone stared deadpan, not caring about the food. Zahku lifted the lid off of the platter. Everyone looked and saw numerous slices of cheese pizza.

"Oh, pizza, how _great_ …" Aspen remarked. "Too bad it's gonna taste like shit!"

Victini chortled. "Yep….." he said as Zahku placed the last slice in front of Freezeo. The Hariyama began to leave, leaving Victini alone with the remaining competitors.

"Alright, you may began eating in… three… two… one!"

Vixen took a bite of the pizza, put immediately she gagged. The pizza tasted like rotten fish with an excess amount of grease covering it.

This taste was shared by the other competitors, strangely enough. Usually flavor enhancers would bring different tastes to each individual person, but it seems that it wasn't the case at this point.

"Oh Arceus, this is awful!" Luna barked, gagging a bit.

"Meh, I've tasted worst things…" Taylor said nonchalantly as he chewed and swallowed the pizza.

"I bet you have…" Ace stated mockingly, earning him a glare from the Milotic.

"I hate this challenge…" Sally groaned as she started to gag.

Frosty, as much as he wanted to keep himself in to try and save Farra from possible elimination, the greasy taste given off by the enhancers was causing him to salivate heavily, and the salty taste was making him gag. He floated underneath the table and started gagging as he coughed up saliva.

"Alright, so Frosty's out before the last person is even out in the open…" Victini snickered.

The sound of Frosty's retching caused a bit of unease, as the taste of grease came up in Freezeo's mouth again, causing him to groan.

Using his chain, he grabbed a bucket from under the table and floated away. The sound of _his_ retching was soon heard afterwards, with Victini just laughing. "Two for the price of one. And we still need the last person to finish so that they're eliminated…"

"WHAT?!" Sola exclaimed.

As Lassie forced the pizza down, Victini nodded and turned to Vixen, who hadn't touched her pizza since her first bite. "Vixen, you're out."

The Ninetales rolled her eyes as she rose up and started heading away from the gazebo.

"That brings it down to… nine for the Ho-Ohs and six for the Lugias!" Victini chortled. "Now for the next video, and it's pretty saucy!"

"If it's anything like the last video, I'm going to sue you for mental damages," Aspen threatened with a glare.

"Bitch, how the hell are you still in?" Taylor queried in annoyance.

"ANYWHO!" Victini interrupted. "Next video: Kinky Urethral Pleasure…"

"NOPE!" Kojo exclaimed, raising up from the table upon hearing that title. "Not looking at that bullshit. I'm out…"

The Mienshao started leaving the gazebo as the video started playing on the screen.

"O-Oh Arceus…." Lassie said in shock and horror, keeping her eyes locked on the screen.

Anthony, usually able to keep himself composed, immediately gagged and turned away. "Nope. I can't. Fuck that and fuck you, Victini!"

The Victory Pokemon sneered as the Blastoise stood up to leave, as did Sparky. The sounds of moaning coming from the screen didn't really help anything, as the remaining girls, Ace, Titan, and Taylor stared in horror.

"This… this is so fucking weird!" Pia stated, holding her head down.

"Pia, you're out," Victini called.

With a glare, but also a sigh of relief, Pia started leaving. She hid a smirk, eyeing Luna from the corner of her eyes.

"I don't know if I can keep watching this shit…" Ace said through grit teeth as he continued looking, locking his legs in front of his privates.

"Oh get over it," Taylor replied, rolling his eyes.

"Taylor, you're out, too," Victini called.

"WHAT!? I'M NOT EVEN BITCHING AND I WAS WATCHING IT!"

"You rolled your eyes, meaning your eyes weren't focused on the screen…"

"Oh you're a piece of shit for that!" Sally exclaimed, unintentionally turning her head. "So what? We can't move our eyes? If that's the case, we'd all be out in round one because we fucking blink!"

"Sally, you're out as well…" Victini continued, ignoring her claims.

"Fine by me," she said, rising up.

As the video clip ended, Victini couldn't help but laugh at the situation before him. "Wow, Loser Lugias, you guys suck at this. You're down to two..."

"Go fuck yourself, Victini," Sola commented, having been unfazed by every video.

"I'm just surprised that two males are still here," Victini said. "Titan, Ace, what the hell is wrong with you two?"

"I've seen worse in horror movies, mate," the EleSpider Pokemon explained. "This shit's still as disturbing as watching Smash and Krack fornicate, but nothing I can't handle…"

"Uh… how do you know that seeing those two having sex is disturbing?"

"A guy takes a trip to visit, sees the door is unlocked, walks in, and gets a load of teeth, moaning, genitals, and raised tails…" he explained before shuddering. "I don't want to think about it…"

"Okay… Ace?" Victini continued, a bit amused from hearing that.

"I'm trying…" the Sylveon replied, twitching a bit.

Victini stifled a laugh.

 **-000-**

"Alright. Round six!" Victini announced.

"Do you seriously have to announce that bullshit every time?" Summer queried in a deadpan tone.

"Yes," he replied simply. "Now, Zahku!"

The Arm Thrust Pokemon rolled the cart up to the gazebo once again. Everyone let out all sigh of dismay. They were all just stuffed at this point, plus with their taste buds modified, everything they eat will be tough and lead to them gagging.

Zahku removed the lid and immediately, all of the remaining contestants sighed. There was a multi-layered pasta on each place. There was ground beef and cheese between pasta sheets and rich, tomato meat sauce drenched over it.

"Lasagna?!" Luna exclaimed, her eyes glimmering. She bared her teeth. "I fucking hate you, Victini."

"Meh, I've heard that hundreds of times and it still doesn't affect me, so… go fuck yourself."

Zahku placed the dishes in front of the remaining contestants before leaving with the cart again.

The delicious odor wafted through the nostrils of each player, but their stomachs were telling them to not even try it. And even they had the space, the taste would be awful.

"In three… two… one… EAT!"

Luna instantly dug into the lasagna, holding her breath so the taste wouldn't bother her. Lassie picked up her fork and took a bite out of the lasagna, only to gag, as it tasted stale and sour.

Aspen held her breath as she devoured the baked pasta. The taste was very rotten and caused her stomach to gurgle almost instantly. "O-Oh n-"

Aspen quickly ducked under the table and began to vomit into one of the buckets, as a slight echo could be heard.

"And Aspen's out…" Victini said. "Let's see who els-"

"Seriously!? Can't you just fucking let that count?!" Ace exclaimed as he forced a bit of the lasagna down.

"Nah. Vomiting means you're out, too, so… deal with it…" Victini replied.

Sabrina shuddered as she ate her lasagna; it tasted like wet gym socks to her. As it went down, it met with the other food sitting in her stomach, causing her to groan.

"Come on Sabrina, we've gotta win this!" Marie urged, having devoured her lasagna in just a couple of bites.

A belch was suddenly heard; they glanced over and saw that both Ace and Sola had their plates empty. Looking around, the Staraptor saw that everyone else's plates were empty as well.

"Oh, you've gotta be-"

"Sabrina, you're out…" Victini announced.

Sabrina groaned. She moved away and started flying away from the area.

"Five versus two… let's see what happens this time around…" Victini said with a sinister smirk. "Next video clip: Male Ursaring uses cactus as a dildo…"

Everyone's eyes widened as the video began playing. Intense roars of pain and 'pleasure' could be heard from the screen, causing Lassie to just up and leave without saying a word.

Summer tried her best to keep her composure, but she was feeling so uncomfortable that she briefly looked away as the screaming got louder. Realizing what she did, she decided to just go on and leave so that she didn't have to see or hear the rest of the video.

"So Lassie and Summer are out," Victini said with a smirk as the audio from the video continued to play.

Ace was twitching, trying his hardest to keep his composure. Eventually, when the Ursaring, went _all_ the way down, he quickly grabbed a bucket with one of his ribbons and blew chunks into it.

Marie, Sola, Luna, and Titan were all completely frozen in disgust and shock at what they were seeing. Panting could be heard from the screen before muffled scraping could be heard. As it did, it could be seen that the needles had a combination of fecal matter and… anal tissue on them. Its anus began to bleed.

Luna shook her head feverishly. "No. Nuh-uh…" she said, holding back her urge to vomit. She quickly rushed away from the gazebo, as did Titan. Even _this_ was a bit too much for him.

The video ended just seconds after her left, leaving Marie all alone for the Ho-Ohs. She groaned to herself, putting her head down on the table.

Sola shook her head free of her thoughts, almost as if she was entranced by what she saw.

"One vs. one…" Victini announced. "This should be very interesting…"

Marie glanced up at him. "I'm not losing this…" she growled as her stomach suddenly gurgled.

"You sure about that?" Victini queried mockingly.

"Yeah. I'm not sure _how_ Sola even made it this far, but I'm not gonna lose to her…" Marie growled as her stomach gurgled again.

Sola just shrugged in response, not really bothered by her confidence. She was pretty stuffed, so she was unsure if she'd even be able to eat anything else.

 **-000-**

"Round seven!" Victini announced.

Zahku came up holding just two plates with lids on them. He sit the first one in front of Marie and lifted it up, revealing a piece of cheesecake with Nanab Berry slices on the top of it and a pink drizzle.

Marie could only sigh as Zahku went over to Sola and placed the plate in front of her as well.

"Alright, in three… two… one… EAT!"

Marie immediately swallowed the piece of cheesecake, not even giving Sola a chance to eat. She sighed.

"AND… THE WINNERS ARE… THE HO-OHS!" Victini announced. "Thanks to Marie's big mouth…"

The Feraligatr glowered at the Victory Pokemon as her stomach gurgled again. "Oh fuck me…"

She quickly leaned down to grab a bucket, but ended up puking on the bench and ground. Sola shook her head with a small smirk.

 **000**

Anthony, Sabrina, Summer, and Marie met up on the beach to discuss future strategies.

"Nice work, Marie," Summer commented. "Glad at least _one_ of us was able to stay put."

Marie groaned in response as she lied on her stomach. "Yeah, I knew that we needed to win, so I just did what I always do."

"Shove everything down your throat and make it wet?" Anthony chortled suggestively, earning a glare from all three girls. Seeing these looks, he simply rolled his eyes.

"Ignoring the ignoramus…" Marie commented. "We need to start planning more. Today was too close for comfort. Sola was _actually_ able to sit through everything and hardly flinched!"

"Uh… she grew up with a devious brat and an idiot turned malevolent bastard, I'm not surprised in the fucking slightest…" Sabrina replied. "I say that we lose her as soon as possible…"

"Um… she's not on our team, so how do you think that will ever happen?" Anthony queried. "If anything, that just makes her more reliable to her team. Now, how about you focus on _our_ team?"

"You guys already know who I want gone..." Sabrina commented.

"Yes, your cheating ex who did it _outside_ of the competition, meaning that it has no effect on anyone other than you two," Anthony stated. "Seriously, can we think logically here? I say that we get rid of Aura, because she's a useless, annoying bitch; Brian, because I don't want to deal with his possible bullshit; Freezeo, because what the hell does he even do-"

"Okay, we get it, you want the weak links and weirdos gone…" Summer interrupted. "I thought you said you wanted to think _logically_."

"The only other logical thing to do would be to get rid of the threats on the team first, but then in the finale or in the merge, we'd end up somehow getting our asses handed to us!" Anthony exclaimed.

"Okay, everyone just hush," Marie demanded, getting on her feet. She let out a sigh. "So, maybe discussing things when we _don't_ have to eliminate anyone isn't a bright idea after all. We all have conflicting choices and reasoning…"

"No, no, this is actually good. It actually means that our target list is much broader and we'll be able to get to all of them at some point. We just have to decide on the order…" Summer reassured.

Anthony shrugged. "I can agree to that…"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"

Marie nodded. "Alright, we'll worry about that later on today. Right now… I just want to take a nap."

The Feraligatr started heading back to the Winner's Cabin, as the remaining three exchanged glances.

 **000**

Morgan and her alliance met up behind the Loser's Cabin, as the gazebo smelled of vomit from the challenge.

"Alright, do we have any ideas for tonight's elimination?" the Persian inquired. "The only one I'm thinking about is Farra…"

"Yeah, she _is_ the only one who didn't even try today," Sparky reasoned. " _But_ , I think she has a good enough reason."

"Oh yeah, her friend gets eliminated. 'Let's sabotage this team!'" Sola remarked sarcastically. "If we keep her around longer, she'll just keep doing it until we get rid of her. So, I say we nip it in the bud _now_."

There was mummering of agreement just as the clearing of one's throat could be heard. Turning to the source, the six of them were surprised to see an Ampharos walking toward them.

"Sally?" Luna asked questioningly. "What are you doing here?"

Sally took a breath. "Well… I wasn't really gonna do anything, but since we lost, I thought that I might as well get this out there…"

"Get what?" Shine asked, raising a brow.

"Well, Pia has an alliance that I was part of _momentarily_ , and… uh…"

"Wait, you're in an alliance with someone on the opposite team!?" Morgan exclaimed in shock.

Sally blinked with a deadpan face before pointing to Luna. Morgan immediately sighed. "Point taken…"

"Look, I left the alliance this morning, and I just thought you'd like to know that Pia's the one who set up the Cano and Luna thing…"

"She WHAT?!" Luna snapped, as Sparky and Vixen gaped and the others' eyes grew wide.

"Yeah, she wants to get rid of the people who were finalists or who made it far…" Sally explained. "So, she made it look like you guys had sex…"

"That fucking bitch…" Vixen snarled.

"Wait, why are you telling us this now?" Shine asked, not really trusting her sudden appearance. "You could have kept this to yourself and just floated past it…"

"I could have, but I started to trust her less," Sally expounded. "Freezeo, Rapid, Reta, and I were part of her alliance, and we're veterans. Then there's her and Chlotz, bringing the total of people to six, with us veterans having the majority…"

"Get to the point, please," Sola stated tonelessly.

"Well, Rapid and Reta got eliminated, and it was like she barely cared. Then, I noticed that she was only specifically targeting other veterans as well. I started to feel like she and Chlotz were just using Freezeo and I to get info, and I didn't really like it," she explained.

"So… she has a strategy. That's your problem?" Sparky restated in simpler terms. "There are… uh... _five_ of them left from last season. I don't see them being that big of a concern.

"Uh… she was able to convince everyone on her team that Cano and Luna fucked, which got Cano eliminated, and lead to Luna having no true allies…" Sally retorted. "I think that's an issue…"

"Crap, and if _we_ or Luna tries to tell them about Pia, they won't believe us," Morgan reasoned.

"Oh, and uh… Pia's actually targeting you, Morgan. You too, Luna…" Sally explained.

"Whoa whoa… I thought you said she was going for people who made it far…" Sparky stepped forward with a glare.

"Uh… remember when Chlotz came up to ask you about voting for Striker?" Sally queried rhetorically. "Yeah, he told her about you guys' alliance last night. And because Luna's the only one on her team…"

"She's gonna try and get them to get rid of me!" Luna understood.

"Yeah, and I don't know what the plan is tonight, but I think it's still you, Morgan. So, I suggest that you guys try to get rid of Chlotz, because he's the one who acts as her messenger boy and convinces others…" Sally replied before starting to walk away. As she did, her eyes widened as she forgot something.

She returned, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Uh, also, could I join you guys' alliance? Strength in numbers…"

Being proposed that question, the girls and Sparky exchanged looks of unsurety. Seeing these looks, Sally only sighed, expecting a no.

"Well, you _did_ just potentially help us with a _shit ton_ of info…" Morgan stated tentatively. "Uh… we'll think about it, okay?"

A small smile grew on her face. She nodded and proceeded to leave.

 **-000-**

From around a corner, Pia overheard their conversation and glowered before retreating.

 **000**

 **Pia: I knew she'd squeal. She has the looks and behavior of a typical snitch. Well, looks like I'll have to tell Chlotz…**

 **000**

Taylor pat Connor's head like a pet. "Good boy. You actually did well..."

"T-Thanks…" Connor replied sheepishly.

"Now, we still lost day, so I say that we need to vote for that giraffe bitch. She didn't even try. Plus, if she's just gonna be bitchy about losing a stupid Metapod, then what use do we have for her?"

"Uh… o-okay…" Connor replied.

 **-000-**

"Wait, he did what?!" Annie asked in shock from the bushes.

She, Titan, and Cramad had decided to pay Clay a visit after not talking to him for a while. And, it just so happened that the Sudowoodo had some information. It was rather unimportant to them, but it was still information.

"Yes, Taylor constantly drowned Connor and threw him into a tree because he did poorly in your challenge yesterday," Clay explained.

"Oi, that's fucked up," Titan stated. "But, what's this gonna do to help us?"

"Well, Taylor's pretty annoying to _everyone_ , right?" Clay queried. "Maybe you can use this to eliminate him. He's an annoying, aggravating, abuser.'

"Huh, but if that happened, why did Connor look fine?" Cramad asked curiously.

Clay shrugged. "I don't know, but I just know that this alliance of theirs is completely one-sided…"

"Well, until something worse happens, I don't think we need to but in," Annie said, peeking through the bushes. "Taylor's just patting Connor's head with his tail."

"Patting or batting?"

"Like a pet," Annie replied.

"Huh, even more démoninizing…" Clay muttered.

"Well, we can't really dwell on that if he ain't on our team," Titan responded. "So, I think we should just relax at this point. After today's challenge, I think we all need it…"

"What was the challenge this time?" Clay queried, raising a brow.

"Well, Victini thought that it'd be a great idea to feed us good food, but then show us horrible videos that'd make us flinch, look away, or puke…" Annie explained.

"Oh, so a reverse of what happened first season?" Clay replied. "Only instead of laughing getting you eliminated, it's vomiting or looking away?"

"Pretty much," Cramad replied.

Clay sighed.

"ALL LUGIAS REPORT TO THE ELIMINATION CEREMONY! TIME FOR ONE OF YOU TO GO HOME!"

"I wonder who's gonna get the boot this time…" Annie spoke.

 **000**

All of the Lugias made it to the elimination area, sitting on their respective rocks. A few of them had expressions of discomfort, annoyance, and anger.

Chlotz glowered at Sally, his arms folded, while Farra glared daggers at the Shiftry.

 **-000-**

" _You guys did WHAT?!" the Girafarig growled, being held back by Frosty._

" _It was moreso what Pia and Chlotz did," Sally explained. "Chlotz went around asking and convincing people to vote off Striker…"_

" _THAT FUCKER!" Farra yelled angrily._

" _Farra! You've gotta calm down! More than likely, you're in the bottom tonight, already!" Frosty protested. "Instead of possibly kicking the shit out of Chlotz, maybe you can just vote for him."_

 _Farra gave the Vanilluxe a glare, which startled him. With a huff, she turned away. "Fine. The faster that piece of shit is gone, the faster I can MAYBE get my head straight again…"_

 _Sally nodded._

 **-000-**

The Girafarig wastrying to restrain her urge to rip all of the hair off of the Shiftry's body.

"Alright Lugias… time for yet another elimination ceremony…" Victini said, floating up. Mew followed with a bottle of water. "I have to say, if Marie didn't have those big jaws, you guys may have had a chance."

"Don't remind us…" Egridos stated. "Just get on with it…"

"You're having marriage issues, you don't get to rush me…" Victini retorted, making Egridos glare at him.

"Okay, fuck you for that…"

"Naw, do that to Lassie. I'm sure she needs it..." Victini continued. "Anyways, let's get this ceremony started. Mew, if you will…"

Mew rolled his eyes. "You guys know the routine… if I call your name, you're stuck in this hellhole. Ace, Shine, Sola, Vixen, Morgan, Sparky, Carson, Amethyst, Holly, Ashton, Kojo, Connor, and Frosty, you all received no votes, so… sorry. You're still here…"

"Trust us, this is not a happy time," Holly commented.

"Anyways, Sally, you got one vote, so you're still here, too," Mew continued.

Sally rolled her eyes.

"Taylor and Egridos, you guys are also unsafe, as once again, you each only got two votes each," Mew continued.

Farra and Chlotz were the only ones left. Chlotz folded his arms, while Farra kept her glare.

"Farra and Chlotz, well, I must say… not very surprising to see you guys here," Victini started. "Well… halfway for Chlotz, but Farra, yeah, that was predictable…"

Farra rolled her eyes.

"And as for you Chlotz…" Victini started. "Well, you just suck."

"Hey!" Chlotz protested. "I've been doing well in challenges!"

"Whatever," Victini replied, rolling his eyes. "The player going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… Chlotz."

"WHAT?!" Chlotz exclaimed as Farra smirked. He rose up abruptly. "Farra doesn't even participate in the challenge and you guys eliminate ME?!"

"Well, considering that you have an alliance with someone on the other team that's taking out us veterans…" Shine started.

"Oh please, you guys have an alliance, too," Chlotz replied. "Hell, Sally was part of ours!"

"Chlotz, I already told them, so that doesn't matter," Sally said with a shrug.

Chlotz growled. "You know what, Sally? You suck! You're perfectly fine with the other shit that was planned, now all of a sudden you start acting like everything's wrong, leave, and then tell people about the alliance and to vote for _me_!"

Sally shrugged.

"Okay, this is fucking confusing!" Egridos exclaimed. "So, you retards decided to vote for the klutz… because he's playing the fucking game the way that most of us play it?! I mean, I don't care, but seriously, at least he participated!"

"A voice of reason! Thank you, Egridos!" Chlotz replied.

"I don't really care, so meh," the coffin replied with a shrug. "All I've gotta say is… goat bitch, nice convincing…"

Sally groaned, rolling her eyes. "Like it matters anymore. He's out! Can we move on, now?"

"I agree. There's more suffering for you guys to be had tomorrow, so Chlotz, come on. Time for the Suck of Shame…"

Chlotz groaned.

 **-000-**

Chlotz stood on the dock with Mew and Victini.

"Well Chlotz, it was nice knowin' ya," Mew said, patting his back. "At least you get to go home now…"

Chlotz let out a sigh. "Yeah. Sure…"

"Well, time for you to go Chlotz…" Victini said. "Please enter the tube…"

The Shiftry groaned, and took a few steps toward what looked like an elevator door. This confused Chlotz. "Uh… what happened to the tube part?"

"It was impractical…" Mew stated and Victini rolled his eyes in annoyance. "So, I decided to make it like an amusement park ride. Just step on in and wait for the drop."

Chlotz rose a brow before entering the doors. Seconds later, as Chlotz looked around, he suddenly dropped, screaming as he was sucked down.

"Alright, eight down, thirty-six more to go…" Victini said, dusting his hands off. He then turned to Mew, who was texting on his phone. "And _you_. Stop making things less painful!"

"I'm the co-host and I will do as I please," said Mew. "You're the one who wanted me here, so don't even think about trying to get rid of me."

Victini grumbled.

 **000**

 **Kojo: *tapping his foot* Okay, I feel like I'm an odd man out right now. Is everyone on my fucking team in an alliance except for me?!**

 **I** _ **really**_ **don't like the looks of this. I'll have to talk to Summer tonight…**

 **000**

After she was outed in the challenge, Egridos asked Lassie to meet him at LeGrae to talk. She was hesitant after what happened earlier, but was willing to listen and hopefully reconcile in some way, or at least still be acquaintances.

The Froslass was waiting for Egridos to come to their spot. Eventually, after ten minutes, the rustling of bushes was heard and the coffin floated forward.

She floated up to him. "Hey…"

"Hi," he replied, looking down awkwardly.

The two remained quiet for a couple of seconds after their greetings. Egridos was the one to break the silence, looking down. "Look, Lassie, I knew where you were coming from this morning, and I'm sorry that I haven't been the husband that I used to be, lately. I've just been more caught up in the endeavors that being on this stinkin' show have been bringing me."

Lassie's voice broke a bit. "Look, I just need to know. Do you still love me?"

Egridos opened his mouth to respond, but ended up closing it again. "I… I don't know. I think I do, but… I don't know if I'm able to give you what you think you need from me..."

Lassie looked down. "Well, I can't be with someone who can't simply include me into his life in some way. You were able to do it _way_ before you started getting this attention, so I don't know why you can't share or continue it. So… I think… I want a divorce."

Egridos sighed. "Fuck…"

 **000**

 **And… there we have it. Lassie x Egridos is no more, not like anyone really cares anyway. Chlotz is gone as well and Sally did** _ **something.**_ **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs. See ya guys later, BYE!**


	10. Lurk in LeGrae

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the contestants had to sit through some good eating and bad entertainment. Egridos and Lassie's relationship was brought into question and whether they were right for each other or not. The reason for Farra's obsession with Striker was brought to light and a side of her we've never seen was revealed. During the challenge, the contestants dropped like flies as they were introduced to some of the most disgusting videos of the internet. In the very end, it came down to Marie and Sola, and due to her swiftness, Marie earned the win for the Ho-Ohs. And, after being ratted out by Sally, Chlotz was the one to take the Suck of Shame.**

 **Who will leave this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Mew was rested comfortably in his bedroom, his sheets wrapped around him like a tight cocoon. The AC in his room was on, making his positioning extremely cozy. It was 2:15 in the morning, and he was completely lost in his own dream realm.

Suddenly, loud banging was heard, causing him to open his eyes in an instant. He groaned to himself and turned over, believing that it was another door that was being pounded against. As he slowly began to return to his slumber, the knocking occurred once again, causing him to clench his sheets in annoyance.

After the second occurrence, it was obvious to him that it wasn't going to end unless he answered. With a disgruntled moan, he sat up, turning on his lamp.

"WHO IS IT?!" he shouted in complete annoyance.

"Shaymin!" he heard his co-host's girlfriend reply. The New Species Pokemon's eyes immediately softened.

Without another word, he floated to the door and opened it, where he saw the mischievous, cheery grass-type dog smile at him. She was so cute and level-headed; what did she even seen in a borderline sociopath like Victini? With those thoughts running through his head, he didn't even think really focus on what she said.

"Uh… are you okay, dude?" she giggled, noticing his thousand-yard stare toward her.

Eventually, Mew snapped out of his daze. "Huh? What'd you say?" he asked, a bit muddled as he rubbed his eyes.

Shaymin tittered. "Arceus and Giratina want to talk to you about something…" she chirped.

The pink feline groaned. "What do they want from me?! I'm already doing another season of a show I'm mentally done with…"

"Maybe they want you cancel it…" Shaymin chimed in with a shrug.

Mew huffed. "I doubt _that's_ the case, but if it was… I'd feel great."

"Aw… you'll get through it, dude," Shaymin replied. "Just keep my babe in check and everything will be fine for you. Maybe you'll get a feel for it again!"

Her positivity on this subject was so sickly sweet; he couldn't be crass with her. "I doubt it, but… there's always a possibility."

Shaymin nodded before scampering off. Mew chuckled before taking a breath and floating to the alpha couple's room.

 **-000-**

As he reached the enormous doors of the Alpha and Renegade Pokemon's bedroom, he yawned. He opened the door and entered, not closing the door behind him. Surprisingly, the lights were on; usually the couple was sound asleep. This time, the couple was waiting for him, with Giratina focusing on their television, and Arceus leaning against him.

Upon seeing Mew enter the room, Arceus rose her head off of her husband's shoulder and nudged the Renegade Pokemon. Giratina turned off the television upon receiving the light nudge.

Mew, seeing that Victini wasn't there, was even more confused as to why he was called down. "Is there any particular reason you guys wanted me at two o'clock in the morning?" Mew queried, his voice monotonous.

"Well, considering that you are the only one that we really trust other than Rayquaza, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Palkia, which is saying something... Yes," Giratina replied.

Mew held his head. "What is it?"

"Well, you know 'Colton' and 'Tyson'?" Arceus queried.

"You mean the Tyranitar and Dragonite?" Mew asked, raising a brow. "Victini stole their catapults for a challenge…"

Yeah, well, the two of them got themselves arrested…" Arceus explained.

Mew was surprised, to say the least, but he wasn't necessarily concerned. He was too tired to care about anything at the moment. "Okay. Why am I involved?"

"Well, when they approached us, as soon as we gave them permission, they ran off without getting their license…" Arceus explained.

Mew rose a brow. "A license?"

"Yeah. All non-legendary Pokemon who want to host a show have to retrieve a license from us so that they don't get into any legal troubles," Giratina explained. "Those two are the only ones who ran out before we could give it out."

Mew sighed. "Again, why am I involved?"

"You're gonna use the license to get them out of jail…" Arceus responded. "And, as punishment, they're gonna be a part of you and Victini's series and act as helpers…"

Mew, upon hearing that, gained an idea. Instead of him being around, the two of them could take his place! "Wait… why don't they-"

"No," the couple responded, already knowing what he was going to suggest.

Mew groaned as a piece of paper was floated into his hand. "And why couldn't Rayquaza or Palkia do this?"

"The two of them are more aggressive when they're tired and wouldn't care to do it…" Giratina replied. "So, just go, get them out, and you and Victini have a couple of other helpers…"

"Great…" Mew drawled. "What jail are they in?"

"Fresco Central."

Mew shook his head as he floated out of the couple's room.

 **-000-**

The New Species Pokemon appeared in front of the old, decrepit building. The brick that made it up was gray, with some bricks having very noticeable scratches and cracks. Spirals of barbed wire sat along the top of the building, as well as along the chain-linked fence the extended _through_ the building.

"The architecture of this place is just awful…" Mew commented before letting out yet another yawn of exhaustion.

He floated to the front door and immediately hit a buzzer that was on the wall next to the door. A voice came from an intercom positioned next to a camera. " _State your business…_ "

"I'm here to get two prisoners out of here," Mew replied.

" _And how are you going to do that, 'Mew'..."_

Mew facepalmed. He already knew that this was going to be the case. Morons always think that he's a Ditto, Zorua, or Zoroark in disguise when in public.

"I'm the actual Mew, for your information," Mew responded. "And I'm extremely tired right now, so can you cut the crap and just let me in so I can prove that the prisoners I want are innocent?"

There was silence. But, after a minute, a buzzing was heard and the door began to open. As it opened, Mew slipped in through the crack and entered another door. He found himself in a lobby, which was surprisingly well kept. There were cushioned couches and chairs around and a front desk at the left corner of the room. There was a barred door leading down a hallway there.

He approached the front desk and saw an Audino there, typing away. "Uh… hello," he said, waving his hand to get its attention.

"What do you need?" it asked tonelessly, not even looking up from its computer.

"I'm here to withdraw two prisoners…" Mew replied, sliding the license through the slot.

The Audino, upon hearing that, took a look at the paper and then at Mew. "Uh huh… Do you really expect me to tell the warden that _Mew_ , the ancestor of all, is here just to get out two prisoners?"

"Well, given that it's at Arceus' request and she could pretty much kill you… yes," Mew responded.

"Sure… and I'm the queen of Castelia…"

Mew pinched the base of his nose in annoyance. He teleported his cellphone into his hand, prompting the Audino to slide the license back to him.

" _Giratina, these schmucks don't believe that it's me… and they're likely not gonna believe I'm really talking to you…_ " Mew said over the phone as a Machamp in a suit came out and stood behind the Audino. " _Can you just… prove it to them or something?_ "

"..."

"Uh… a bit unorthodox, but… whatever," Mew said with a shrug as he hung up.

He saw the warden and desk assistant looking at him with mocking grins. "So, _Mew_ , where's this proof of your validity?"

"Oh, Arceus is just gonna strike you with Thunder," Mew said calmly.

"Pfft, I doubt-"

Immediately, the two of them were hit with an intense Thunder attack, knocking them into the back wall. Seeing that, Mew slid the license back toward them. "So uh… which cell block are they in?"

 **-000-**

Mew floated down the hallway, being heckled and cat-called by other prisoners, much to his discomfort. Eventually, he made it to Cell Block 53, which supposedly held the two ex-hosts. Eventually, after floating past more cells full of males trying to grab at him, he came upon a cell with a Tyranitar and Dragonite asleep together on the bottom bunk.

"Colton! Tyson!" he shouted, startling them as Colton, the Dragonite, fell off of Tyson's chest.

"OW!" Colton exclaimed, as he got up. Upon seeing who was there, he was astounded. "Mew? W-What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get you and Tyson out of here," he explained with a disgruntled tone. Mew teleported the two of them out of their cell.

Immediately Colton embraced him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah, this is great. But… what made you think of us?" Tyson queried.

"Actually, it was Arceus' idea," Mew explained. "Apparently you two didn't get your license for your show. If you add, this wouldn't have been able to happen…"

The two of them exchanged looks before sighing.

"Well, thanks… now we can go and teach that bastard Barkeep a-"

"Actually no, Arceus says that you two are part of my and Victini's series from now on…" Mew interrupted.

Tyson and Colton both blanched at that news.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah… you guys are pretty much gonna be helping with challenges like Zahku…"

"Zahku?" Colton asked in confusion.

"Are there at least going to be waffles?" Tyson asked, wanting a positive.

Mew facepalmed.

 **000**

4 hours later

 **000**

In the Winner's Cabin, the air conditioning was on full blast, as the cabin usually got hot at night due to the increased humidity of the island due to the approaching summertime.

Kojo and Summer were lying together in the Eruption Pokemon's bed, still asleep. Summer was lying atop the Mienshao, the covers draped over the two of them. Soon enough, the badger yawned, arching her back to stretch. Hearing a soft pop, Summer sighed and looked down, seeing that Kojo was still asleep.

She smiled to herself and lied back on top of him. Her sudden movement, as well as the creaking sound of the full bed, caused Kojo to softly groan and open his eyes. Seeing Summer looking down at him lovingly, he smiled back. "Morning beautiful…" he greeted as he sat up.

The couple shared a brief kiss. Once they broke it, Summer could only look at him dreamily before nuzzling into his neck. Kojo nuzzled her back, his heart pounding intensely from the affection. Thinking about everything that he's been through mentally and physically, the fact that he had her really made him feel complete.

Summer noticed the look on his face and grew a bit concerned. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You look a bit off…"

Kojo didn't realize that he'd been staring into space, focusing his eyes back onto his girlfriend. "Yeah, yeah… just… thinking about how lucky I am to have you…" he replied rather somberly, making Summer blush.

Kojo kissed her, making her immediately kiss back, wrapping her arms around his neck. They broke it again. "I love you…" she replied, hugging him.

"I love you, too," Kojo replied, hugging her back.

 **000**

 **Kojo sighed. "I honestly don't know what I'd do without her. I'd probably sink lower and lower into depression until I killed myself…"**

 **He took a breath. "Stop it. Just stop it. Things are going okay."**

 **Taking another breath, Kojo recalled something. "And I still have to talk to Summer and her alliance about joining them…** _ **Great**_ **."**

 **000**

Brian was sitting in his lair, once again attempting think about what he could possibly do to eliminate Aura and Luna. After watching the numerous clips from the website, the self-proclaimed evil genius was conflicted on whether or not he should do what others have done in the past and create an alliance.

On one hand, he wanted to make it far all on his own again, but on the other hand, having minions that'll do his bidding seemed like a good idea again. He did it with the zombies, so why not do it with _living_ people?

He pressed a red button on his control panel and immediately, a steaming sound was heard/ he turned around and a large, spinning column rose from the center of the cave. He floated toward the column, grabbing one of his weapons. The one he chose had an ovoid shape with purple rings around it. The ray part had a purple orb at the end of it and a black base.

"Hmm…" he hummed, inspecting it thoroughly. "No… this probably won't work that well…"

He placed the ray gun back onto the column and spun the column and, picking up a dagger with a button on it.

"Hmm… Mind-numbing Knife…" he spoke to himself, inspecting _it_ as well. After a while, he shook his head. "No, stab wounds would guarantee that I'm beaten mercilessly…"

The Reuniclus placed the blade back onto the column and sighed. "Forget it," he said. He floated back over to his control panel and pressed the red button once again, lowering the column back into the ground.

"I'll need to form an alliance. There seems to be an abundance of them in this game thus far, and while some will fail, I will have to make sure that mine stays afloat," he stated. "The main question is… what fools will be willing to pledge their allegiance to this evil mind?"

 **000**

Freezeo's yawned as Pia led him into the forest. She had gotten him up early in order with no explanation. The only thing she told him was "Follow me." He was the only one that she had left in the alliance since Sally sold out Chlotz, so in the back of his mind, he was considering just abandoning the sinking ship as well. Everyone who was involved in the alliance was getting eliminated, and he most definitely didn't want to be next if something bad happened.

"Uh… so, what's the plan here?" he asked, a bit confused. "Why are we going into the woods?"

"We're getting a new alliance member," Pia responded sternly as she forced herself through a bush. "That snitching bitch thinks that she's got the upper hand by ratting out the alliance, but she's _dead_ wrong…"

Freezeo's eyes widened at her serious tone. It was a bit scary to him, but it was to be expected given what has happened.

Eventually, the two of them made it to their designated location, Brian's cave. Seeing this, Freezeo grew a bit skeptical.

"Wait, _Brian_?!" Freezeo bellowed, completely bemused. "What made you think of _him_ out of all people?"

"What's wrong with him?" Pia queried. "He made it to fifth place, he's inventive, and he's intelligent. We need someone like that!"

"But… he's so complacent about being 'evil'…" Freezeo responded. "It's a bit unnerving _and_ annoying."

Pia waved away his concern. "Oh please, that's just a front. He's just a smart guy who wants to act evil for relevance. He's a useful ally nonetheless."

Freezeo didn't really trust it, as Pia began entering the stone shelter. Seeing this, Freezeo groaned and followed her inside.

 **-000-**

"Brian!"

The Reuniclus, startled by her sudden entrance, jumped and fell out of his lounge seat. "Ow! Evil does not appreciate surprises!"

"Yeah yeah, evil evil," Pia responded, ignoring his statement. "Listen, we'd like to make a proposition with you…"

Brian picked himself up, dusted himself off, and turned to her. He was tempted to kick the two of them out, but then again, he _was_ looking for allies. "Evil is listening…" he stated, folding his arms.

"How would you like to join our alliance?" Pia replied. "And in return, we'll get you to the merge and help you with your little… inventions or whatever."

"So, you will pledge allegiance to me in exchange for my cooperation?"

"Whatever," Pia said, rolling her eyes.

"Marvelous," Brian said, rubbing his hands together. " _World domination is within my grasp!_ "he thought to himself.

"So… what now?" Freezeo queried, not wanting to simply remain there.

"We need to get our acts together," Pia replied, her arms folded. "And since we no longer have anyone to be a part of the opposing team, I guess we should focus on our team and that shitty family alliance…"

"What a coincidence. Two targets that I had in mind have correlation to that group…"

"Oh? And who did you have in mind?" Pia asked, impressed that he was already thinking like them.

"The annoying mistress and the mangy mutt," Brian replied.

"Aura and Luna?" Freezeo said in confusion. "Weren't we already going for Luna?"

"Yes, and now that Brian's on board, he'll be an extra help in making sure that she's gone," Pia responded.

 **000**

 **Pia giggled. "Sally thinks she's so smart, but she just got lucky. We can't really touch her now, but we can touch her possible allies…."**

" **Wait, that sounds wrong. Hold o-"**

 **000**

Connor was going for a walk around the island to get his head straight. His side was still a bit bruised and sore from when Taylor flung him against the tree, but he was relatively okay. The pain wasn't as bad when he had to do the last challenge.

He didn't really want to be in an alliance anymore if he was just going to be berated and harmed for mistakes. Taylor was an arrogant asshole, but he knew what to do and how to make it far. He wanted to do just that, make it far and show that there was more to him than meets the eye.

Again, he _wanted_ to do that, but he couldn't bring himself to for some reason. It already seemed like he was a nobody, as nobody who he's met even recognized him from the show. Along with that, he just couldn't stand to be bothered with anyone. When he first arrived, he wanted to make a few friends here and there, but then he learned that in this game, idiocy and drama reigned over common sense.

He entered the woods from a special path located between the mountain and volcano. "What is wrong with you?" he questioned himself. "Why are you so weak?"

He continued along the path, intense heat radiating from the landforms. The heat made him a bit dizzy, as he started stumbling a bit. He groaned. "Come on. Here you you again, just plain weak," he said to himself, a migraine beginning to form.

"No wonder nobody cares about you…" he said to himself as he continued to stumble along the path, small, but hot, stones bringing him a bit of pain with every other step.

"No wonder girls you talk to walk away…" he stated as he bumped into the volcano.

"No wonder why guys think you're gay…" he stated at he bumped into the mountain.

He growled to himself. "Pull yourself to-WHOA! Oof!"

He was so dazed that he ended up tripping over a smaller ledge. Doing that, Connor had to fight back tears of embarrassment as he slowly got back onto his feet and continued forward. "I hate my life…"

 **-000-**

"Honey, remind us why you're making us walk around like this…" Cramad said as she scuttled along with him.

"Ey, it was Clay's idea…" Titan said. "He said that walking around and getting a 'sense' of the island would be a good thing for us…"

"Well, I don't know why he thinks that walking aimlessly around this shithole is going to be good for us…" Annie commented, kicking a pebble as she walked behind them.

As they walked, they heard bushes rustling as they got close to the two large landforms.

"If this is him trying to scare us, I'm gonna smack him with Petal Dance immediately," Annie commented, folding her arms as the three of them stopped.

Connor emerged from the bushes, a dismal expression etched onto his face. Seeing him, and given what they've seen him go through with Taylor, the three of them swiftly went after him.

"Connor!"

The Bash Buffalo Pokemon heard his name be called and turned around to see who it was. Seeing who it was, he slowed himself down, eventually halting.

The three of them caught up with him and surrounded him, making him a bit nervous. Was he about to be hazed by his fellow nobodies? To his surprise, he wasn't.

Connor remained silent before just looking down at the ground beneath him.

"Well, I'll take that as a no," Titan replied.

"It's just… we've seen you and Taylor talking near the lake and… it doesn't look like a fair relationship," Cramad explained.

Hearing that, Connor immediately looked back up with a blush. "It's not like that…"

"We know that it's just an alliance, but he's treating you like a freaking feral, wait no… even ferals are treated better!" Annie exclaimed. "He's just abusing you!"

Connor growled. "Can we _not_ talk about this?" he asked as he attempted to walk away, only to be stopped by Cramad, who used Stun Spore.

Now paralyzed, Connor sighed. "Of course…"

"Mate, Taylor is treating you like dirt…" Titan explained. "No, _worse_ than dirt! You need to get out of there!"

"Why does it even matter to you guys?"

"Because everyone deserves to be treated with respect," Annie explained. "It's common sense!"

"No one here even cares about my existence!" Connor exclaimed. "Every time I'm in a challenge, I'm either alone or with people who resent me because of my weakness! So, even if I get away from Taylor, I'm still going to be a nobody that'll be voted out the first chance they get!"

"So, you'd rather be beaten mercilessly for mistakes that Taylor deem reprehensible instead of being independent and showing what you're really capable of?"

"Compared to everyone else here, I'm shit," Connor responded, staring down at the ground. "My moves are weak since I never perfected them, I'm easily nauseated, I'm skittish, the list goes on an on. All I want to do is make a few friends and prove that I'm more than just a shy loser that's easily taken advantage of…"

"Well, you don't have to worry about the friend part because we're here for you," Cramad said with a smile.

Connor looked down before a small smile formed on his lips. "Thanks guys…"

"No problem," Annie replied before getting serious. "Now, are you done with Taylor?"

Connor sighed. "We're on the same team. And… even though he's a mean jackass, he's keeping me in as long as I-"

"No!" Annie irritated, holding her head in irritation. "Connor! Taylor is a complete prick. You don't need to be associated with him…"

"He's only going to keep beating you and belittling you over minor things that a freaking _Primeape_ wouldn't get pissed off about!" Titan exclaimed before thinking about it. "Well… actually…"

Cramad sighed. "It isn't healthy, Connor. Simple as that. He's tried to drown you, knocked you into a tree, scolded you relentlessly-"

Hearing all of this, a question suddenly entered Connor's mind. "Wait, have you guys been spying?"

"We have our meetings across the lake from you guys, so whenever you guys have _your_ meetings, we see and hear what happens…"

Connor let out a sigh. "Look, I'll be fine. Just… leave it be," he responded.

"But-"

"No buts…" Connor responded before he attempted to move again, only to not move at all due to his paralysis. He sighed. "Does any one of you have a Cheri Berry?"

 **000**

 **Connor took a breath. "Well, at least** _ **some**_ **people care about me… I think."**

" **I've gotta do something. Taylor is a jackass, but he's also keeping me in the game as long as I'm compliant…" Connor continued. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. "But what if I… hmm…"**

 **000**

Sparky was heading toward the cliff, per Luna's request. She had said that she wanted to private time with him, which he was all for. Other than when she had to knock him out and apparently 'serviced' him in the Winner's Cabin, the two never had any real quality time together.

On the way there, he heard a familiar voice behind him. Turning his head, he saw Vixen walking behind him. He mentally groaned. He had nothing against the Fox Pokemon, as she was his sister-in-law, but it seemed that whenever they were in the same vicinity, other than in their alliance meetings, things were awkward and very very annoying.

"Heeey…. Vix," he replied, continuing to walk.

The Ninetales caught up with him, eventually walking alongside him. "So… where are you headed?"

"Luna and I are going to spend some time together…" he replied with a smile as the two continued walking. "And, since she's the one who planned it, I know that it's going to be awesome…"

Vixen giggled upon hearing that. "You guys are so cute…"

"Nah, _she's_ the cute one. I'm just the bum she's with," Sparky joked as they made it to the cliff base. "That's essentially what each of you girls got when you married us…"

Vixen tittered, "Yeah… you're right."

Eventually, the two of them made it to the cliff's base. Sparky turned to Vixen with a small smile. "Well, I'll see you around…"

"Just try not to get her pregnant," Vixen laughed as she started walking away.

Once she was gone, Sparky turned back to the cliff. He started heading up the rock exposure, a smile on his face as he thought about what his wife had planned.

Making it to the top, he saw his mate lying down, staring out at the sea. Her tail swished slowly from side to side as the Luxray slowly approached her from behind. Hearing pawsteps behind her, Luna turned her head to see her husband approaching. A smile grew on her face as she rose up just as he made it next to her.

"Hey beautiful…" he commented before they locked lips. After breaking it, Luna licked his nose.

"Hey there handsome…" she responded with a smile as he lied down next to her. She sighed in happiness as she lied back down beside him, only to lick his cheek. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"So, what's the plan for today? Before the possible challenge that is?" Sparky asked.

"Well… I was thinking that we could just hang out here and just talk. Maybe take a stroll or a swim…" she suggested, nuzzling against him.

Sparky was expecting to do something a bit more, but chortled. "Alright," he replied. "So… what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I was wondering… what do you think about having kids?"

Sparky's eyes widened at that question. He had no idea how to answer. Truth be told, he didn't want children. At least not just yet. And knowing how crappy their lives have become because of this game, he didn't think that bringing a new life into the world would be such a good idea.

"Sparky?" Luna queried, seeing that the Luxray was staring out into the distance.

Sparky snapped out of it and turned to her. He sighed softly. "Listen sweetie… You know that I love you, right?"

Luna already knew where this was going and just lied her head down on the paws. "You don't want kids…?"

Sparky wrapped a paw around her as tears began to fall down the face. "Honey, I don't mind having kids, but I just don't think that it's a good time in our lives right now. Especially in this fucking shitshow of a game…"

"Cano and Vixen have Elijah and Shade and Shine have Spike. Sola even told me that she and Demenio were planning on getting pregnant in a few months!" Luna cried. "Why can't we just do it? I'm ready! Aren't you?!"

Sparky remained silent, removing his paw from her as he walked forward and sat, looking out over the edge. This 'quality time' was turning into something he didn't feel comfortable with. He had his reasons for not wanting kids, but he didn't want to alarm her or hear her refutation.

"Y-You're not ready?"

"It's a bit more complicated than you think," he spoke tonelessly.

"Then tell me," she said, slowly coming up behind him. "What's the matter?"

Sparky growled to himself. "I'd rather not talk about it…" he spoke.

Hearing this, Luna looked away in dejection. She knew best not to pester him with the same questions. It was so unfair. She sees others having their kids, talking about them, or just planning on them and the moment she wants to do something, it's an issue.

It sucked that Cano got eliminated earlier. She could have tried to ask _him_ what was up with Sparky and having kids. She sulked down the cliff, leaving Sparky alone at the edge.

 **000**

" **I just want a child of my own… why is that such a problem?" Luna queried. "He said that he didn't even mind, but it was at a wrong time. But, the others still had kids that are okay…"**

 **She sighed. "Maybe by the end of the game he'll change his mind…"**

 **000**

 **Sparky blinked. "Look. I'm the spitting image of our shithole father, and I also have his shitty genes. So, I just don't trust myself when it comes to kids. I love my family, but I don't know if** _ **any**_ **of us should be having kids at all."**

" **Shade is a psychopath with two kids and look what's going on. Spike's pretty much done with the world and Autumn's already tearing other people's limbs off at her school. "**

" **Elijah** _ **seems**_ **to be alright with Cano, but he's borderline depressed and a jackass to others that aren't in the family!"**

" **We all saw what D is capable of in All-Stars, so why are they even planning to have kids!?"**

" **I just can't deal with the possibility of me screwing up my kid like our dad screwed us up!"**

 **000**

Farra had a smile on her face as she wrote a list, floating a pencil with kinesis. Frosty watched her do so, not knowing whether to stop her or let her get everything done.

The Girafarig eventually finished her list and overlooked it. "Perfect…"

"Uh… Farra, what'cha got there?" Frosty queried warily.

"It's a _list_ , duh…" Farra replied.

"Um… okay, and what is it for?" Frosty followed up. "I mean, Chlotz is pretty much gone now. What's the point of a list?"

"To make it further in the game!" Farra exclaimed before looking back down at her list. "With Striker _and_ that bastard eliminated, I'm gonna focus on getting further. And my first targets are Vixen and Sparky. Their bullshit sob story and drama annoys the hell out of me."

"But how is that their fault if everyone keeps bringing it up?" Frosty queried. "It happened _years_ ago!"

"And what better way to stop it than to eliminate them?!" Farra replied. "Simple as that. The next time we lose, I'll just convince the others to get rid of one of them."

Frosty groaned. "Farra. Just because Striker is gone doesn't mean you have to do this kind of stuff!"

"Frosty, shut up. This is just strategy," Farra replied. "Everyone does it. Or at the very least, they _should._ "

The Vanilluxe sighed. He knew that this was going to end poorly. He just knew it.

 **000**

" **Farra has officially lost her mind," Frosty said. "She was pretty decent earlier, but now that Striker's gone, I don't know what she's going to do."**

 **000**

Going through the forest once again, Marie tried to search for the gym. After finding Anthony out here, she was hoping that she could just get from Point A to wherever the hell Point B was. Stepping on twigs and moving past trees, the Feraligatr eventually came across a large rectangular building.

It was similar to the gym on the original island, with glass windows and doors. Through the glass, she was able to see numerous exercise machines, punching bags, a battling ring near the back, and numerous weights all around.

She entered the building with a smile and immediately felt the chilliness of the environment. It sent a shiver down her spine. On her way toward the weights, she noticed something white and pink near the back, beside the ring. Upon closer inspection, the Feraligatr saw that it was a Sylveon, and a familiar one at that, walking on a treadmill.

"Ace? What are you doing here?" Marie asked in surprise.

The Sylveon didn't respond to her, continuing to walk on the treadmill. There were two cords extending from his ears and going to a MP3 player attached to a strap around his waist.

Seeing this, Marie just shrugged it off and decided to walk back over to the weights. Turning around, her eyes widened in shock as she saw Anthony sitting on a bench, lifting a couple of fifty pound weights. She growled, walking over to him. She did _not_ feel like dealing with him.

"What the hell are you doing here, pipsqueak?" she growled.

"Well, Gatorade, like you, I'm just trying to get stronger… _and_ I'm bored as fuck…" he replied as he continued to lift his weights.

"Well go be bored somewhere else! I found this place before you, so I have dibs," Marie replied before snatching one of the dumbbells away from the Blastoise.

Anthony rose him abruptly, giving the Feraligatr a look of agitation. Being that he was still shorter than her by two feet, Marie wasn't intimidated in the slightest. She smirked. "Run along now little guy…"

In response, Anthony blasted a Hydro Pump at her face, knocking her back and making her drop her dumbbell. The sudden loud crash and thump got Ace's attention, as he pressed the stop button on the treadmill and turned around to see the cause of the sounds.

Seeing that it was Marie and Anthony, he sighed to himself and went back to walking on the treadmill.

Marie got back on her feet as Anthony, who was still glaring at her, sneered. Seeing this look, Marie clenched her fists and ran toward him. Anthony used Ice Beam, stopping the Feraligatr in her tracks as she gaped.

"Perfect…" Anthony commented as he walked forward and grabbed the fallen dumbbell. He then went back to his bench and continued to lift just as he did before.

"What? So you think freezing me is gonna do something long term?" Marie growled as the ice around her slowly started to crack from her attempts to break free. "When I get out of here, I am going to kick your ass!"

"You can try, but you won't succeed," Anthony retorted with a chuckle.

Marie bared her teeth furiously as Anthony sneered at her intensity.

 **000**

" **I… hate… him…" Marie seethed.**

 **000**

 **Anthony chortled. "She can keep getting mad, but she won't get the leg up on me…"**

 **000**

The Ghoul Gang was once again at LeGrae, with Lassie and Egridos remaining silent. Lassie had already talked to Marion about the situation, while Dhaunt remained rather clueless. However, given their mannerisms, he could only assume the worse.

"So, uh… are we just not going to-"

"NO!" Lassie and Egridos shouted simultaneously.

"Alright then…" Dhaunt responded.

Marion sighed. "Come on, this is ridiculous. Just because you guys are getting a divorce doesn't mean you have to stop talking to each other completely."

"So what? Do we just act like nothing happened?" Lassie queried, her arms folded.

"I mean, you might as well. Nothing's changed other than your relationship statuses," Marion replied with a shrug. "And what would be the point of just being cold toward each other? It's not like there's hatred between you two."

The ex-couple exchanged looks before looking away awkwardly.

"See," Marion said after seeing their looks toward each other. "You guys don't even hate each other!"

Egridos sighed. "Looks, let's just not talk about this shit. We're getting a divorce, we have no hate, end of story."

Dhaunt nodded, while Marion remained quiet.

"CONTESTANTS! REPORT TO LEGRAE FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!" they heard over the loudspeakers.

The ghost-types exchanged looks upon hearing that.

 **000**

" **Well, looks like we'll be the ones with the advantage in the challenge this time," Dhaunt laughed.**

 **000**

Everyone reported to the abandoned high school, the eerie atmosphere causing a few to stand back despite the sun still being out. Now, in addition to slight fear given to almost everyone due to the overall feel of the school, there were also looks of confusion, as a Dragonite and a Tyranitar munching on a waffle were seen standing next to Victini and Mew.

"Alright contestants, it's time for your next challenge!" Victini announced cheerily.

"Uh… what's with the two bozos beside you two?" Sabrina queried.

"Hey!" Colton whined as Tyson continued to chew on his breakfast item.

"Oh, these two?" Victini responded with a smirk before chuckling. He floated behind them, placing an arm on each of their shoulders. "Well, these two lugs _were_ hosts of their own show like this, _buuuut_ they fucked up and didn't get their license from Arceus, so they got arrested because of some wannabe evil guy who serves drinks…"

"Okay… good," Morgan replied. "At least _someone_ is getting arrested for the bullshit we go through on this shitty shows…"

"And why the hell are they _here_ , exactly?" Taylor asked, already annoyed by their presence.

"Well, these two will be extra helpers for the series from now on," Victini explained, smacking the backs of their necks, making them flinch. "So, get used to their faces…"

"So… they're just gonna be like Zahku, pretty much?" Klavier asked for confirmation.

"Yep," Victini replied, floating away from the two as they glared at him. He turned back to them. "Well? Aren't you gonna introduce yourselves?"

Colton groaned before waving a hand, "I'm Colton and this is my boyfriend Tyson…"

"I'm not-"

"She dumped you when we got arrested; you're mine now. Deal with it!" Colton interrupted before the Tyranitar could even finish his statement.

"Hey, what do you know? Now Taylor and Ace aren't alone…" Egridos commented, earning him a Hydro Pump-Moonblast combo that sent him into a tree.

"So yeah, they're gay," Victini said nonchalantly, waving them off. "Anyways, onto the _important_ matters! Your next challenge is going to be a _spooky_ one…"

"Oh yes, broad daylight. How horrifying…" Shine stated sarcastically.

Victini chuckled upon hearing this. "When you get in there, you're really going to feel it," he explained. "Your goal is to head inside and find as many notes as you can. However, there are are numerous traps, illusions, and other horrifying things inside of the school that will hinder you."

"Along with _that,_ there will be a 'creature' inside of the school that will capture you. If that happens, you will be brought back out here and you are out of the challenge," Victini continued. "The team that has the most notes within seven hours will win."

"Uh, what happens if we get caught and we have notes?" Frosty asked.

"Those notes will still count," Victini responded. "Don't worry…"

"And what happens if everyone on our team gets captured?" Carson queried.

"Well, if your team sucks _that much_ ," Victini said. "You just have to hope that the amount of notes that you collected holds… If not, you lose."

" _Greeeat_ …." Carson commented.

"Slaves!" Victini said, snapping his fingers before turning to Colton and Tyson. "Go and fetch the countdown screen…"

"You're a psychic-type, get it yourself," Colton said, folding his arms with a glare. "Just because we're stuck on your show as helpers doesn't mean we're gonna give in to your idiotic-"

Leaves and grass crunching could be heard, disrupting Colton's train of thought. He turned and saw Tyson walking away.

Seeing this, the Dragonite groaned. "Dammit Ty!"

He followed the Tyranitar; once they were out of view, Victini teleported the screen next to him and Mew. Mew had remained silent, as he was asleep. The early job made him even more tired, which gave Victini a bit more range.

"Alright, all of you head on inside and time will start when the door slams behind you," Victini explained.

Almost everyone exchanged uneasy looks, but they all went toward the entrance of the school before entering one-to-two at a time.

 **-000-**

Upon entering, the first thing that hit everyone was the smell of death. The stench of rotten flesh, combined with feces and blood, was wafting through the air. The lockers that initially lined the walls were now lying on the floor.

Multiple pools of a red substance were around the floor, getting into the grout and spreading along the tiles. The posters and banners were even more ruined than before, and some of the bricks on the wall were chipped or even _removed_ from the wall. Numerous other papers were scattered out around the floor

"Well, this place is even shittier than I thought," Phill remarked, looking around.

"Come on, we don't have time to stand around," Summer said as she started heading forward. A few others on her team followed suit, leaving the Lugias behind.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs headed down the hall, eyeing the horrendous scenery dealt to them. Due to them simply looking for notes and avoiding traps, there was no set place that they needed to be. Looking around, they all checked the area for any notes that may be posted.

"Where would these bastards post the notes?" Fez queried to himself.

"Oh I don't know… maybe in places that'd be hard to find!" Sabrina squawked in annoyance.

Fez didn't even flinch at her outburst. Instead, he continued to move forward with the others. This confused the Staraptor quite a bit. She was used to getting her point across and making him flinch; it made her feel like she had control. And, even though they're broken up, she yearned for that feeling of power.

However, knowing how these people behave and vote, she decided to keep herself composed and continued after them. On the way, a door slowly creaked open, which she immediately took note of. Peering inside of the dark room, the only thing identifiable was a white item on the back wall.

"Uh… you guys! I think I found a note over here!" she called, getting the others' attention.

A few of the others came back to investigate, while others proceeded forward. Marie, Anthony, Summer, Fez, and Lassie came over. They all glanced into the room as well and saw the complete blackness of it, with the white slip of paper on the wall being the only thing that stood out.

"Nice, that's one," Marie said.

"Okay… so who's going to be the one to go get it? Cause it's not gonna be me," Anthony stated.

"Aw… is the pipsqueak scared of the dark?

"No, Tooth Scary, the bastard said that there were traps and I don't feel like being the first victim!" Anthony explained.

"Pussy…"

"Yes, no male wants to touch yours, we get it. Can we focus on the challenge now?"

"Anthony!" Summer shouted sternly, alluding for him to stop talking.

The Blastoise rolled his eyes.

"I mean, I'll go…" Fez said with a shrug. "Not like I'll do much to help anyway…"

Lassie glanced at the room number above the door, 207, and immediately recalled that this was the science classroom. As soon as Fez entered the room, the lights turned on brightly and the door slammed shut.

"What the hell?!" Sabrina exclaimed as she and the others proceeded to look through the door window.

Lassie phased through the wall to enter the vicinity with Fez in order to offer some assistance, because, as a ghost-type, most things wouldn't affect her.

 **-000-**

In the room, Fez was a bit flustered. The classroom was practically destroyed, as there was a large chasm extending from the opposing walls. The remaining floor tiles were old and cracked. The posters on the wall were painted over with tar. The windows were covered in a pitch-black tarp, and the light was flickering. The chasm had ropes dangling into it from the ceiling; it also reeked of sulfur and plastic and had a green, bubbling ooze at the very bottom of it

"Fez! Hurry the hell up and get the note!" he heard Sabrina yell at him.

He rolled his eyes, not bothered by what he had to say. He spread his wings and proceeded to rise in the air, only to be brought back down to the ground by a strong force. He groaned in pain.

"Uh, Fez…" Lassie started, pointing to a wall behind him.

Fez eyed her before sitting up and turning around.

A crudely made wooden sign that read 'No flying allowed' in light blue paint was seen hanging next to the door.

"Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me!" Fez exclaimed. "I can't fly?!"

"Nope," Lassie responded, folding her arms. "So, looks like you're gonna have to use the ropes…"

"Wait, why can't _you_ get the notes? You're already floating!" Fez protested.

Lassie gave him a look before floated toward the chasm and placing her hand forward. A forcefield was seen, as her hand caused waves that extended to either side.

"What?" Fez queried in show as he moved forward and stuck his foot forward. It was able to pass through. "Come _on_!"

"Looks like you're the one who has to do it," Lassie insisted.

The Unfezant groaned.

 **000**

The Lugias all entered a classroom that seemed to be clear of traps and notes. "Okay, I say that we split up and search for the notes. It'll cover more ground and we'll be able to deal with traps much easier," Morgan suggested.

"Whatever," Taylor said, rolling his eyes. "As long as I'm not with you, I'm golden…"

Morgan gave him a look of annoyance before recomposing herself. "So, who's going with who?"

Without saying a word, numerous people from the team began exiting the room, eventually leaving her with Vixen, Sola, Sparky, and Sally. Morgan sighed. "Good talk…"

 **000**

Holly, Carson, Amethyst, and Ashton stuck close together as they headed down the spooky hall. The putrid odor in the air and indiscernible stains on every nook and cranny of the school building was very unnerving for the group.

"Well, this is crap," Carson commented. "I don't get why we even have to do these types of challenges."

"It's Victini, Carson…" Ashton replied. "We always have to expect the worst of the worst when it comes to him…"

"I wish that Mew was the host again…" Carson mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure we all do," Holly spoke up. "His challenges may get boring or irritating, but I'll take boredom over horror any day."

As they continued down the hall, the group didn't seem to notice a black trail following them. It was coming up rather quickly, as they distracted themselves with conversation.

Eventually, the group found themselves as a door that was partially open, a broken padlock on its side. "Do you guys think we should check this room out?" Ashton asked hesitantly. "We haven't seen any other notes around."

"Well, if it's for the challenge… I don't think we have much of a choice," Amethyst spoke softly as she stuck close to Ashton's side.

"No, we _have_ a choice. It's just the _consequences_ of our choice that'll screw us over," Carson explained. "But, nobody really knows what we've found, so-"

The black trail that followed them stopped and slowly rose up behind Holly, who was in the rear. As Carson continued talking, Amethyst and Ashton took note of what was going on behind their friend.

"Um… Holly, you might want to move. NOW!" Ashton bellowed.

Holly was a bit confused initially, but when she saw a shadow in front of her, her eyes widened and she moved forward as the black figure slammed down.

"What the heck is that!?" Carson exclaimed.

"I don't know…" Ashton replied, seeing the trail slither close to them again. "But, I think now is a good time to run!"

The four of them immediately took refuge in the room, with Ashton using her vines to slam the door shut behind them. The lights immediately turned on in the room and they saw that they were not in a classroom, but inside of a broom closet.

There were numerous metal shelves inside of the closet. There was a broom, a mop, and a dustpan lying against the room. There was a mop bucket sitting on one of the higher shelves, a bunch of paper, toilet paper and paper towels, and a bunch of regular towels. There was also spray and insect poison on the shelves.

"What do we do now?!" Amethyst inquired. "There's no window on this door, so we don't know if that thing is still out there or not!"

"Well, unless we want to be stuck in here for the rest of the challenge, I suggest that we-"

Holly was interrupted by Carson's discovery of something. Looking up, the Bronze Bell Pokemon found a note on the ceiling. "Hey, a note."

He floated upwards and grabbed the note from the ceiling, effectively triggering a clanging sound. Suddenly, the floor underneath the two of them began to separate, revealing a pit of lava.

"Oh no…" Ashton stated, seeing the situation that they were in.

"Quick! Open the door!" Holly exclaimed, more concerned about Amethyst and Ashton.

Carson opened the door, only for the black streak to still be there, in the form of a dragon. He paled before closing the door. "Yeah, we're not going anywhere," he squeaked out.

The floor continued to separate. Carson and Holly continued to fly, while Ashton and Amethyst struggled to stay up. Amethyst was on the tips of her toes, while Ashton had her forelegs against the wall and was looking back as the floor continued its separation.

Amethyst grit her teeth before an idea sparked in her head. "Carson! Use your psychic!"

"Oh! Right!" Carson replied, forgetting all about that. A blue aura surrounded the four of them before they were teleported out of the closet.

The shelves and equipment all fell into the pit.

 **000**

Annie, Titan, Cramad, Aspen, Aura, and Marion were surrounding a hole in the floor. There was a large web inside of it, with a note dangling from under it.

"Well ghost girl? Are you gonna get it or not?" Aura questioned.

"And why am I the designated grabber?" Marion retorted.

"Because you're a ghost-type!" Aura responded in annoyance. "I would've thought you had common sense…"

"Aura, out of the six of us here, you're the last one who needs to be talking about common sense," Annie commented.

Aura scoffed. "This coming from the girl who stayed with a jackass who was cheating on her and only using her for money? I say that common sense has never been a part of your life."

Aspen sighed to herself. Luckily neither Ace nor Shine were in the vicinity, or things would have gotten unnecessarily heated.

"Meanwhile, you-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a slut because I fucked a married man and got pregnant. Boo-fucking-hoo," Aura replied nonchalantly. "If the bitch was able to get pregnant in the first place, _maybe_ this wouldn't be that big of an issue…"

"So… basically none of what's happened is your fault. That's what you're saying?" Cramad queried.

"Damn right," Aura replied before turning back to Marion. "Now, if you'd please just get damn note so that we can move on… it'd be greatly appreci-AAAHHHH!"

Marion pushed the shiny Glaceon into the hole, causing her to fall in and get stuck in the web. The others looked down into the hole before looking back at Marion.

"What? She's annoying," Marion said with a shrug. "You can't tell me you wouldn't want to do the same."

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" they heard from the hole.

Looking down, they saw that despite the fall, the web didn't break and instead held the Glaceon on its surface.

"Aura! Get the note, then I'll get you up…" Marion called down.

"I'M STUCK! HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GET IT?!"

Hearing that, Marion groaned.

"Go on and get her and the note. It may be something you don't want, but you might as well…" Titan spoke.

Marion sighed as she floated down into the hole. On her way down, she saw a black shadow overtake Aura, and before she knew it, the Glaceon was gone. Marion's eyes widened, however, she saw that the note was still there.

Shrugging it off, Marion phased through the web and grabbed the note before floating back up. Once she made it back up, she was met with a question.

"Uh… where's Aura?" Aspen inquired.

"She got captured by a shadow, so I think she's out," Marion explained.

The four of them groaned upon hearing that news. " _Great_ , just _great_ …" Aspen growled.

 **000**

Connor walked alongside Taylor on the third floor of the high school. The Bouffalant was covered in scratches and marks, with a look of agitation on his face. He had two notes stuck on each horn. The Milotic didn't have a mark on him other than the blood that was all around the floor.

So far, Connor had been thrown against a wall, burned by a flamethrower, cut up by a bunch of scissors, and almost attacked by a shadow creature. Why? Because Taylor pushed him into each situation. Frankly, he was getting annoyed.

The two came upon a pitch black room. "Alright, go check this room out," Taylor said, whipping the Bouffalant's butt with his tail.

Connor growled softly at this, but obliged. Entering the room, Connor flicked on a nearby light switch with his horn and saw a bunch of chains and hooks hanging from the ceiling. There was a foul smell of rotten meat and flesh all around. Each hook and chain had a note, along with pieces of viscera and flesh.

There were squares under each hook with a note.

Connor paled and immediately turned around, only for Taylor to block his way. "Let me the _fuck_ out!"

"No! Get those fucking notes, you reject!"

"YOU GET THEM, CLOSETED TASKMASTER!" Connor exclaimed, tackling him back. Taylor winced at the Bouffalant's attack and growled at him. However, on the inside, he smiled.

 **000**

 **Taylor giggled. "So, his balls are finally starting to drop. Let's see how this goes…"**

 **000**

Taylor scoffed. "If you think that _I'm_ going in there, you've gotta another thing co-"

He was cut off when Connor gave him an irritated glare directly in his face. "Do… it…" Connor stated sternly.

Taylor tried his hardest not to blush, and nearly failed. He kept his own glare and rose up. Connor expected to be struck and braced for it. However, much to his surprise, the blow never came.

"Fine…" the Milotic grumbled as he slithered toward the door.

Connor was in awe. He actually succeeded in standing up for himself. However, he didn't know how long it'd last.

He entered the room and took a breath, looking around the awful classroom. It didn't really help that the inside of the room was cold. Taylor slithered underneath the chains and hooks, heading toward the furthest notes. His body went over the individual squares as he made it to a hook.

Raising up his head, he used his eyebrows to get the note off of the hook. He heard a creaking sound and saw that the squares were beginning to drop. A green, bubbling fluid was seen underneath. The Milotic's eyes widened as he heard more creaks and a few more of the squares began to fall.

Connor watched from the doorway, rather unfazed by the Milotic's struggle. He was only happy that _he_ wasn't in his place.

Unbeknownst to the Bouffalant, a black and red slimy creature rose from the ground behind him. Piercing yellow eyes were locked onto the Bouffalant as it slowly approached him from behind.

Taylor grabbed a second note, before slithering toward the exit. He didn't want to risk anything. He started slithering to the doorway and saw that Connor wasn't there. He rose a brow as he made it out of the room. "Connor? Where the hell did you go?"

Getting no response, the Milotic groaned in annoyance. "Of course…"

 **000**

"Come on Phill, just grab it!" Klavier shouted as he held the rat up to a large vent.

"Look, I'm sorry that I don't necessarily trust vents is old ass schools! Especially when the school is booby trapped!" the Raticate responded as he pulled himself up into the vent.

The two of them were in a hallway, with Klavier balancing on his tail atop a set of lockers. A familiar mustelid turned the corner and rose a brow upon seeing the twosome.

"Uh… guys, what are you doing?" Kojo asked, approaching the lockers that Klavier was balancing on.

"Oh, hey bro," Klavier greeted before looking back at Phill, who was looking out of the vent. "Well, there was a note inside of this vent, but it got sucked in, so Phill is gonna go get it since I'm too big."

Kojo chuckled with a nod before starting to look inside of the lockers. Opening the rusted doors, Kojo saw that there was a bloody arrow pointing to the locker next to it. The Mienshao immediately grew wary upon seeing that.

"What are you doing, dude? These lockers are shit," Klavier replied, jumping down and landing on his tail.

"There's an arrow in this locker," Kojo said, perplexed. "And I don't know if I trust it…"

"Given that Victini played a part in trapping this place… I don't think you're too far off," Klavier replied, folding his claws.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

An echoed scream came from the vent, immediately get their attention.

"Phill?!" Klavier exclaimed as he and Kojo swiftly got back on top of the lockers. However, their combined weights and their positioning on the tops of the lockers caused them to topple off, revealing a gaping hole in the wall.

Before the lockers fell, Kojo leapt up and grabbed the grille of the vent, which was now sealed. Using his upper body strength, he pulled himself up and placed his feet against the wall as he attempted to pry the grille back off. "Klavier!"

The Gliscor groaned, rubbing his head. He looked back up and saw that Kojo was trying to pry off the grate. Along with that, he noticed the large hole in the wall, which confused him.

As he got up to try and aid in getting the grate off, he felt his tail be grabbed. "What the-" Klavier started before he was yanked into the hole, with the lockers rising back up to cover it once again.

Kojo growled, eventually yanking the grate off of the vent. However, because he had his feet on the wall, he fell back, bumping against the lockers and hitting the floor. He groaned in pain as a note slid out of the slots of one of the lockers and onto his face.

 **000**

Ace and Shine were stuck with Egridos, who ended up tagging along with them. The two Eeveelutions weren't even really expecting to pair off, let alone deal with the annoying coffin.

"I find it so funny how nearly all of you Eeveelutions are connected because of that one annoying cheating bitch," he commented.

"Egridos," Shine seethed as she stopped walking momentarily. "Zip… it…"

"Jeez…" Egridos replied, surprised at her anger. "I guess having a murderous husband has really influenced you…"

Shine simply ignored him in that light as she, Ace, and Egridos proceeded to walk down the wretched hallway. Another hallway was connected to the one that they were on, and, as they went down it, an Umbreon and Flareon emerged from the other side, making Ace slow down a bit.

"Chase?"

Egridos gave the Sylveon a look. "You've gotta be kidding me. The bastard said that illusions were a part of this!"

"Yeah…" Shine said, not trusting the Umbreon approaching her. Her eyes and gem glowed red as she emitted a bright light from it, knocking the Umbreon back and causing it to evaporate into smoke. A note was left in the aftermath.

Seeing this, Ace used Moonblast, knocking the Flareon back and causing it to evaporate as well. Ace let out a sigh of disappointment before Egridos floated forward and picked up both notes.

"Well, at least something good came out of it. Two notes!" Egridos cheered. Looking at them, he saw that one was just a house crudely drawn in crayon, and the other was a round head with a knife in it, also drawn poorly with crayon. "What the hell kind of notes are these?"

"The kinds that morons would leave behind. Either them or a two-year-old," Shine commented upon being shown the two as she started walking past him.

Ace padded behind her, with Egridos shrugging and following them.

"So…" he started. "How's the psycho in the sack?"

"WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!" Shine bellowed.

 **000**

"I can't believe we have to stay in this shithole for seven hours…" Luna mumbled to herself as she walked along the dirty high school floor. She was in the cafeteria at the moment.

There were light green columns extending from the floor to the ceiling. The numerous tables were old and moldy, a greenish tint on each one. There was a smell of moldy food and trash in the air, making her rub her nose in irritation.

She looked around the lunchroom, hoping to find a few notes scattered about. She just hoped that she didn't get captured. While doing the challenge, she still couldn't get over what Sparky told her about them having kids.

"We'd be fine…" she said to herself as she took a seat at one of the tables. She let out a sigh of disappointment, fighting back tears.

 **-000-**

Looking inside of the cafeteria from outside, Pia, Freezeo, and Brian were eyeing her.

"Alright, how are we going to deal with her?" Freezeo queried.

"Well, for the moment, I think we should just lock her in there," Pia said. "That way, we can say that she made no effort to help out in the challenge because she's sad or something…"

"This attempt must be done quickly. She is getting up," Brian replied, his arms folded.

"Then close them! You're a psychic-type, too!" Pia replied.

Brian rolled his eyes.

 **-000-**

As Luna wiped away her tears, the doors of the cafeteria slammed shut, startling her. Turning to the door, she sighed and got off of the table. She decided to focus on looking for notes for her team. She started heading toward the kitchen part of the cafeteria.

In the back, sitting on an old, silver table, was a receipt holder. And, much to her happiness, there seemed to be more than five notes left on it.

Before going toward it, she scoped out the scene. The back kitchen smelled as rancid as the rest of the place, only this time it was pretty much a bloodbath. There was viscera all around the floor and on the other tables and counters. The sinks were full of bloody intestines and kidneys. She looked up at the ceiling, which was dripping blood, and saw a large stain on the ceiling that was dripping blood from the floor above.

She smacked her lips. "Uh huh…" she said, looking at all of the blood and guts with minor interest. She eyed an old, dusty wooden spoon on the floor. She looked back at the floor and at the ceiling above the table.

She moved the spoon in front of her with a paw before kicking it in front of her. Immediately, a cage filled with blood and more viscera was dropped from the ceiling onto the spoon, breaking it, and causing some of the fluid to splash at her.

She growled at this, spitting out some of the clotting blood that sprayed in her direction. She wiped it away from her eyes with, grumbling as she walked around the large cage.

She picked up the receipt holder with her tail and started heading back to the front. Much to her surprise, a lone egg sat in front of the door.

Her eyes widened as she slowly approached the egg. Slowly, the egg began to glow, making her immediately start stepping back. She remembered what was said about illusions, so she was more then ready for whatever crap came out of it.

As the egg glowed brighter, it took the form of its contents, which was… a Poochyena. She gasped as the newborn Bite Pokemon whimpered as it looked around. Luna was sure that she couldn't trust the cub before her, but she also knew that she needed to get out of there.

She ducked down behind a few tables, but the Poochyena walked toward her with a giddy smile. Luna, seeing this, groaned as she headed to the door. She attempted to open the door, but when she touched it, she felt that it was cold.

"What the- OW!" she exclaimed. She looked behind her and saw that the Poochyena was chewing on her tail.

"Hey, you little rat!" Luna exclaimed, lifting her tail up, along with the Poochyena. "Let me go!"

She ended up dropping the receipt holder due to the bite. She used her tail to hit the Poochyena against the wall in an attempt to get it to let go.

It didn't seem to work and the Poochyena seemed to get angry, standing its ground. Its jaw started to stretch as it actually started to _swallow_ Luna's tail.

"What the…" the Mightyena started as she felt like she was being sucked into a vacuum.

The Poochyena's eyes were completely yellow at this point as it began to turn into a blackish-red slime monster.

Luna's eyes widened as she looked to her side and swiftly grabbed onto the receipt holder, making sure that she got her team the points as she was swallowed whole.

 **000**

" **The door felt cold when I touched it… and it seemed like ice was under the door," Luna growled. "So, either I was sabotaged, or the doors were set up to do that…"**

 **000**

Farra and Frosty were searching the girls' and guys' restrooms respectively. In the girl's bathroom, there was a smell of rotten fish and and blood, much to Farra's disgust.

Each stall had something wrong with it. The first one was overflooded with toilet paper, the second one was full of blood, the the third was full of feces, and the fourth one had a pole inside of it for whatever reason.

Farra scoffed. "Disgusting. Whoever was in here years ago really needs to learn to wash themselves properly. Smells like rotten Magikarp in here…"

The grimy floor made her shudder, due to the squelching sounds that her hooves made. She created a pink platform for herself so that she didn't have to step on the ground anymore. She attempted to use the sink to wash her hooves, but, unsurprisingly, it didn't work. Instead of water, blood came pouring out, filling the room with more of the awful, fishy scent.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" the Girafarig exclaimed as she attempted to turn the faucet off. The knob broke off, causing the blood to pour out nonstop.

Farra attempted to stop it with Psychic, but to no avail. She growled as she attempted to leave, only for the door not to budge. "Oh fuck off!"

She tried using Psychic to open the door, but that didn't work either. She then attempted to charge at the door in order for it to open.

Banging against the door, it still didn't open, much to her chagrin. Suddenly, she heard flushing and looked back. The toilets began to flood, sending their contents onto the floor. The sink eventually overflowed as well, making blood spill out onto the floor as Farra kept herself on her own platform. She held her breath, as the putrid odor was taking over.

 **000**

Frosty had floated out of the boy's bathroom with a couple of notes. He actually didn't have that much of an issue. "Well, that was easy enough," he said, looking at the notes. One had the numbers 1, 2, and 3 stacked on top of each other in pen, and the other had a campfire drawn in red colored pencil.

"Farra! You find anything good?" Frosty queried as he floated next to the girls' bathroom door. He got no response, but he could hear the sound of something streaming from the faucet.

He looked at the bottom of the door and saw a red and black fluid seeping from the bottom. His eyes widened. "Farra!"

He opened the door and was immediately hit with a wave of blood, scabs, and fecal matter, completely covering him. The worst part? Farra was nowhere to be seen. Frosty twitched. "AHHHHHHH!"

 **000**

" **I NEED SANITIZER AND WATER!" Frosty yelled, still covered in blood.**

 **000**

Fez ended up falling into the chasm, to the shock of no one. So, Marie took his place and grabbed the note that was on the opposite.

After that, the group ended up turning a corner into another hallway, where they saw Kojo shakily getting onto his feet. Seeing his condition, Summer grew wary and prepared to go up to him, but was restricted by Marie, who held her arm out. "Don't be so quick to rush over…" she warned. "Remember, this place has dozens of traps and illusions…"

"Well, how the hell do we know if he's real or not?" Sabrina queried.

 **-000-**

Kojo seemed to acknowledge them. "Oh, lucky me," he grumbled. He started approaching them, knowing that it was them due to the look of stern looks he was getting from everyone except Summer. He just knew that it was her.

 **-000-**

"Back up, impostor!" Anthony threatened, making Kojo stop.

The Mienshao groaned. "For fuck's sake, it's me!"

"A likely story…" Anthony responded before blasting him with water.

Kojo's eyes widened as he was knocked onto his back by the high pressure water. He groaned. "I TOLD YOU THAT IT WAS ME!"

Seeing that he didn't disappear, Marie lowered her arm, allowing Summer to go up to and help him up. "You okay?"

"Sure…" Kojo replied tonelessly as he got back onto his feet.

"Hey, sorry about that," Anthony apologized sheepishly. "Can't be too careful around here…"

"Yeah, I already know. Klavier and Phill got captured like… half an hour ago…" he replied. "I was just now regaining my consciousness."

"Wait, Phill and Klavier got captured… and you were left untouched?" Sabrina queried glowering at the mustelid. "Yeah, I call bullshit on that…"

"You can call bullshit all you want, but it's the truth," Kojo replied sternly. "I came up and Klavier was putting Phill in the vent to get a note. I opened a locker and saw an arrow, Klavier came down, and then Phill screamed from inside of the vent. Klavier and I got on the- Wait… why am I explaining this to you? It doesn't matter anymore…"

"Thank Arceus you stopped, I was getting bored just listening to that story," Anthony replied.

"Well, I'm gonna get going," he said, kissing Summer's cheek before walking in the opposite direction, which was where they were heading anyway. Seeing this, Summer gained a smirk and chased after him before tackling him from behind.

"Ow…" he groaned. "Why, babe?"

"We were going this way anyway, so… why not?" Summer giggled. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with coming together…"

"Well, that actually depends on how much di-" Anthony started before being smacked by all three girls around him.

"Yeah, not a good thing to say around girls, dude," Kojo said, hearing the blows land.

Kojo grabbed Summer's tush from behind, making her blush as Kojo slid his legs underneath himself. He sat up, urging Summer to wrap her arms around his neck so that she didn't fall back. He got back on his feet, giving Summer a piggyback ride.

"Huh, you're stronger than I thought you'd be," Sabrina commented.

"Thanks…" Kojo responded, deciding to take it as a compliment as he kept a hold onto Summer's legs.

"Wait, why are we going to let him come with us if he's on the opposite team?" Lassie queried. "I mean, I can see that the two of them are apparently together, but that doesn't really excuse it…"

"There's five of us and only one of him…" Marie replied. "I'm sure that we can take him if there was any issue."

"Good to know that you think it takes five of you to take me down," Kojo chortled, hearing them.

"Summer, can you get off of him? It's not that serious…" Sabrina asked. "Plus, it's always the kissy couples that are taken out early…"

Summer scoffed, getting off of Kojo's back. "We're not a kissy couple," Summer replied. "We just enjoy each other's company for the most part…" she said rubbing his head.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"

Suddenly, a nearby door creaked open, a bright light emanating from it. This caused a bit of unease to come over all of them.

"Well, that can't be good…" Kojo commented, seeing the luminous room.

"Yeah, I'm not really interested in seeing the light, so uh… let's just turn back around…" Anthony stated as he started walking away.

"Aw… what is it? The big strong boys scared of a room with light?" Marie teased.

"Hmm… in a school booby-trapped by a sociopathic host who cares more about ratings than the well-being of the players…" Anthony started, putting on a thinking place. "You're damn right, I'm scared, bitch. If you want, _you_ can check it out, but heading back in the direction from where we came…"

"Anthony, what the hell would be the point of that if there's nothing there?" Summer queried, folding her arms.

"We didn't check any lockers did we?" he replied rhetorically as he continued walking away.

Marie growled, clenching her fists. "I want to beat him to a pulp…"

"Yeah, he _is_ annoying…" Lassie agreed. "But, we can't really dwell on that. We need to see if that room has any notes…"

"Hmm… well, I don't necessarily trust it…" Sabrina stated before eyeing Kojo, who was leaning against the lockers at this point. "Hey, Kojo, why don't you check it out for us like a gentleman?"

"Sabrina, really?" Summer replied, raising a brow in disapproval.

"Hey, if he's gonna stay around us, he might as well work for it…" Sabrina replied nonchalantly.

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Marie agreed, folding her arms.

Kojo gave them a blank look. Was he seriously going to ask to join _this_ alliance? He thought that they would be a bit cooler, but if this was going to be their attitudes, he didn't know if he was willing to deal with it.

With a sigh, he started heading toward the door, knowing that something bad was going to happen to him. He approached the door, unknowingly triggering a small wire and immediately an ear piercing sound was heard, causing him to cover his ears.

He ended up dropping to his knees, covering his ears while clenching his teeth. "What the hell is this?!"

The girls watched as he dropped his knees and covered his ears. The girls gazed at Summer with looks of 'really?'. They hadn't heard anything at all, so seeing his do this was pretty pathetic.

"What?" Summer asked, perplexed by their looks.

The sound was causing Kojo to get a headache, and he immediately started crawling back to get away from the door, but the sound remained. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" he exclaimed, as Summer leaned down and picked him up.

"Kojo, what's wrong?" Summer asked, placing her hands on either side of his face.

The Mienshao could see her lips moving, but the only thing he could hear was the same screechy sound. "I can't… hear you. Some fucking annoying sound is drowning you out…"

"Well, we don't hear anything, so why don't you-"

"Guys! Come on!" Summer exclaimed. "Could you show at least _some_ care?"

"Not our teammate," Lassie replied with a shrug.

Summer sighed to herself.

 **000**

"Alright, how many notes is this?" Vixen asked as Morgan and Sally attempted to pull up Sparky, who had fallen into a large pit of spikes. There was a note stuck on one of them, which he was instructed to get after he fell in.

Sola counted up the notes that the group had collected. "Uh… this will be the fourth one…"

"Jeez. I thought we had more…" Vixen remarked. "How long have we been in here?"

"Uh, you know… your friends _are_ a bit heavy, so a bit more help would be great!" Sally stated as she tried to hold Morgan's tail as she reached down to help up the Luxray.

"Oh, sorry," Sola expressed as she and Vixen walked over to aid in Sparky's retrieval.

In the pit, Sparky had his front paws gripped on Morgan's and his hind legs dangling due to the spikes covering every part of the pit. He was cut up quite a bit, but he was still pretty fine.

Soon enough, after Sola and Vixen began to help, they could feel extra weight being added that pulled them forward.

"Whoa! What the hell is going on?!" Sola grumbled, struggling to hold onto Sally's tail without sinking her teeth into it.

"HELP!" Sparky called. "SOMETHING'S TRYING TO PULL ME BACK DOWN!"

"SPARKY!" Sally shouted back, you're gonna take us ALL down! You need to let go!"

"WHAT?!"

"As long as you still have the note, we'll get the point!" the Ampharos expounded. "Morgan, unless you want _all_ of us out, you need to let him fall!"

"I understand this, but five heads are better than four in this case!" Morgan exclaimed. "We need him!"

Sally growled as she and the others started sliding toward the pit as well. "Morgan, either you let him go, or I let **both** of you go!"

Vixen and Sola's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Sally! This is not that seri-AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Sally released her grip, allowing both Sparky and Morgan to fall into the pit. She was right at the edge, herself! A few seconds later and she would have been gone with them.

Sally plopped onto the ground and groaned. "We could have afforded to lose one player in the group! Why did she keep holding on if something stronger was pulling all of us?!"

Sola and Vixen couldn't say anything. This was a whole new side of Sally to them; they didn't know how to feel. On one hand, it was a good call, but on the other hand, it was a dick move.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get a response, Sally just sighed. "Well, at least there's still three of us and we have the other notes…"

Sola nodded and turned back to where she had left the notes. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw that they were gone. "No. No, no, no…" she repeated, walking to the spot she was standing in initially. "I left them right here. There's no way that they're just gone like that…"

Sally groaned. "Great. Now we've lost two players _and_ we don't have any extra notes!"

"Well, someone else most likely took them while we were distracted, so maybe we just need to follow…" Vixen started.

"Follow what? There aren't any footprints that can seen on a scummy school hallway!" Sally exclaimed. "Plus, I'm sure that we would have noticed or felt an extra presence if that was the case…"

After a moment of silence, Sola chimed in, "... Doesn't the other team have three ghost-types?"

"... Son of a bitch!"

 **000**

Dhaunt was floating away with three notes in his hands. "Probably should've helped them, but… our team doesn't need to lose…" he spoke.

At the moment, the ghost was alone, having been separated from the rest of his team. As he went down another hall, a foul odor entered his nostrils, prompting him to cover his nose area immediately. "Oh Arceus, what the hell?!"

Continuing forward, he saw the restrooms and noticed the massive blood pool in front of the girls'. "Ew…" was all he could say. "Was someone on their period or something?"

He floated over that section of the floor, keeping his face covered to avoid the awful smell. The school itself was already decrepit with a foul odor, so this smell only made it worse. He noticed a staircase against the right wall and immediately started heading in that direction.

As he turned into the staircase, he found himself being whacked by something wet and scaly. Plopping on the ground, he dropped his notes with a groan. Regaining his focus, he saw that Taylor was in front of him with a smile.

"Thanks for the notes, loser…" Taylor laughed as he picked up the three notes and slithered back up the stairs.

Once he did, he unknowingly triggered a switch on one of the stairs, dropping two large grates on the front and end of the staircase, trapping Taylor in the middle of it.

"What the hell?!" the Milotic exclaimed.

He attempted to use Ice Beam on the grates, in hopes of smashing them, but had no such success. As soon as he used Ice Beam on the grates, it melted off.

Dhaunt whistled as he walked through the grates. He floated up and snatched the notes back from Taylor. "Nice try…" he said before continuing to float up.

Taylor growled before smacking him through the grate.

"OW!" Dhaunt exclaimed, rubbing his butt.

Taylor growled angrily, not realizing that black streak was coming up the stairs behind him.

As Dhaunt floated down the hall of the next floor, he heard Taylor scream. He floated back to the door of the staircase and saw that the large Pokemon was no longer there. Instead, a single black streak was on the floor.

His eyes widened. "What the…"

Suddenly, the streak started to slither toward him, making him float away immediately. He flew down the hall, notes clenched in his fist. He turned back to see where the streak was, and was surprised to see that it wasn't there.

He slowed down a bit and sighed in relief.

"Uh… Dhaunt-"

The Gengar jumped at the sound of his name being called. Turning around, he saw Marion, Titan, and Aspen in front of him. "Oh, hey babe," Dhaunt greeted. "How're things going?"

"Annoyingly," the Banette replied. "We lost Cramad in a bathroom and Annie got sucked into a water fountain."

Hearing that, Dhaunt rose a brow. "A _water fountain_?"

"Yes, a water fountain," Aspen spoke up. "It was… it was pretty bad."

"Well, how many notes do you guys have?" Dhaunt asked. "I got three from the other team while they were distracted…"

"We were able to get two other ones…." Marion replied, holding two more notes.

"Okay…" Dhaunt responded, nodding in approval. "Man I wish we'd stayed all together. We'd know how much we have…"

"Well, we can't just dwell on it, let's just keep going," Titan commented as he pushed open a door next to him.

As the door creaked open, numerous red lasers were seen inside. The four of them eyed the dark room and exchanged glances.

They approached the door and lurked inside. They saw numerous notes dangling from the ceiling in the room on thin strings. After a while, Aspen spoke up. "So, who's going in?"

"I volunteer… _you,_ Sheila…" Titan commented. "You haven't done much but stand around.

The Furfrou scoffed. "Please, and what have _you_ done? If we're talking logically, Marion or Dhaunt should do it since they're _ghosts!_ "

"Y'know, I'd agree, but considering that we actually know our way around this place… and the fact that I was bitch smacked by Taylor _twice_ ," Dhaunt began. "I don't think I'm obligated to-"

"I volunteer ghost boy…" Aspen interrupted, annoyed by his explanation.

"I second this," Titan chimed in.

"Oh come on!" Dhaunt explained.

"Sorry hun. Majority rules…" Marion giggled.

"You didn't even vote…" Dhaunt deadpanned.

"I abstain…" Marion retorted with a shrug, making Dhaunt facepalm himself.

"Ugh… fine," he groaned as he looked at the room of lasers. The bright red lasers looked particularly deadly, as there was a faint glow around each of them and a buzzing sound was heard in the room.

He floated into the room, not knowing what to expect. Because he was a ghost, he thought that the lasers wouldn't affect him. As he floated through the lasers, he heard something drop and felt a bit lighter.

Looking to his side, he saw that his left arm had been cut off by the laser! His eyes widened as he looked at the other lasers and turned back to the others, who were watching from the doorway. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

The three of them melted together into a blackish-red blobbish form. Dhaunt gaped in complete shock as more lasers began shooting from the sides.

One laser went right through his leg, making him yell out as he lifted his leg, causing the laser to slice through it. He twitched and looked at the doorway again, only for the strange creature to slam the door shut.

Dhaunt gazed around warily as the lasers began to disappear and reappear in different areas. "I hate my life… or death…."

 **000**

"Come on Amy… just grab it," Ashton said, using her vines to hoist the Amaura up toward a bookshelf in the library. There was something white hanging off of it.

"Y'know, I'm kinda nervous about being in here…" Carson said, looking around at all of the rotted wooden bookshelves. The books that were held were very moist and dusty. The maroon carpet on the floor had numerous stains and wet spots, as well as slash marks, revealing the cold, concrete underneath it.

"Why?" Holly asked. "I mean, I know that this is a place that Victini rigged, but… knowledge is power."

"Holly, knowledge isn't required in our lives unless we want real jobs…" Carson replied tonelessly. "Hell, just being on this show is power, pretty much! I even saw a video on Youtube talking about the top fifteen contestants from our season and I got number thirteen!"

"Uh…"

"I mean… it may be low, but at least I made the list!" Carson responded.

"What kind of video was this?" Ashton queried, overhearing the conversation as she brought Amethyst back down.

"It was just the general top whatever. They have a lot based around us for some reason. I saw… Top ten sexiest female contestants, top tex sexiest male contestants, cruelest challenges, best villains, worst competitors…" Carson explained. "It's like… WatchToto or something…"

"Well, that's interesting and all, but can we try to finish this challenge and get out of here?" Amethyst asked.

"The goal is to actually _stay_ in here and collect as many notes as we can," Carson reminded. "So, getting out would likely mean getting caught, which… I don't like the sound of…"

"I'm actually surprised that they didn't trap this place," Holly said, looking around as they approached one of the four, slimy tables in the middle of the library.

Ashton, Amethyst, and Carson immediately stopped walking upon hearing the Courting Pokemon say that. They let the Swoobat continue flying. Immediately as she reached the tables, a large, transparent cage dropped around the tables, trapping her inside.

She gasped and turned around, seeing the others on the other side of the cage.

"What the heck happened?!" she exclaimed.

"You jinxed it, so we stopped!" Carson responded, a bit panicked.

"Well, get me out of here before-"

Suddenly, cranking sounds were heard and the cage began lowering into the ground. "What the heck?!"

"Holly!" Ashton exclaimed as the Swoobat was lowered and the floor was replaced with a new one.

"Okay… we just lost Holly…" Amethyst said, her voice shaky. "And I don't know where we can go other than out of here."

"But there's probably more notes around here!" Ashton exclaimed. "We need to check the other bookshelves…"

"Ashton, I love you as a friend and all, but after seeing _that_ , I don't think we should be in here for much longer…" Carson replied. "Who knows what else is booby trapped!?"

"He… has a point, Ashton," Amethyst spoke up. "There's probably other traps in here that'll take us out, too."

Ashton sighed. "I just don't want us to lose another challenge."

"Well, let's just hope that we have enough notes all together…" Carson replied. "I mean, we may bicker a lot on our team, but… we can still accomplish good things."

"What are you guys doing in here just standing around?!" they all heard, making them jump.

Turning around, they saw Egridos floating into the area, with Ace following suit. Ace looked back at the entrance and saw that Shine was still standing in the doorway. "Come on, Shine!"

"Nope. I don't trust it…"

"Thank you!" Carson called. "So, can we leave now?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered off and the door closed, surprising them.

 **-000-**

Shine had jumped back when the door slammed shut. Attempting to open it, she felt a surge of electricity enter her body, prompting her to release it. "What the hell?!"

She gazed down the hall and saw that the lights were flickering. She looked around warily before the lights went out completely. The lights popped back on a mere five seconds later, only this time… the lights were red.

A loud roar was heard, startling her a bit before she looked back inside of the library. Everybody inside was gone.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me right now…" she commented as she backed away and started heading down the hallway. She ran down the hall and turned into a doorway with a staircase. She went up onto the third floor and saw that the lights were normal there.

Despite this, the floor was extremely grisly now. Blood, organs, severed limbs, and bloody weapons were seen scattered around the floor. Shine looked around and rolled her eyes as she padded down the long hallway. Passing by the first room with an open door, she saw hooks and chains with a few notes sticking off of them.

She rose a brow and approached the doorway. Her eyes glowing, the notes on the hooks were surrounded by a light blue aura and lifted off before being brought to her. "Alright, two more notes…"

Shine turned around, only to be kicked into the room by a shadowy figure, which promptly disappeared from view. Groaning from the hit, Shine shook her head to regain her composure before peering back at the doorway, panting.

Seeing nothing there this time, the Espeon growled. She walked back out of the chain and hook room and glanced down both sides of the hallway. Nothing.

She took another step out, only to be dragged back inside, with the door slamming shut behind her.

 **000**

Shine found herself being brought back outside by a black figure that rose from the ground. There, she saw numerous other players, who had gotten captured in some way or another.

She let out a sigh. "Well, this is unfortunate…"

"You got that right…" Victini laughed. "There's eight Lugias left and only five Ho-Ohs…"

"Hmm… well considering that we've _lost more players_ , it's to be fucking expected that we'd have less players…" Morgan growled. "Ugh… if Sally hadn't fucking let me go, there'd be seven of us to their eight…"

"Oh, nice. We have a scapegoat now…" Egridos said with a smile. "If we lose, it's an easy out."

"Oh pipe down. We still have a chance to win…" Taylor commented, his tail resting underneath Connor, who didn't seem to notice.

"If these bitches don't fuck it up…" Farra grumbled.

"I mean, you guys are pretty pathetic. You barely lasted over one hour," Victini replied, eyeing the timer monitor, which was counting down from 5:39:68. "So, I wouldn't be surprised…"

"Jeez, you're a jackass…" Colton commented, folding his arms.

"Quiet, slave!"

Colton rolled his eyes, while Tyson continued to eat his waffles.

 **000**

Pia, Brian, and Freezeo were in the old gymnasium of the school.

Freezeo was feeling practically shafted at this point, as Pia and Brian were blabbering about possible plans and what they did in their spare time outside of the game.

"So, you've made money selling the inventions that you think 'failed'?" Pia queried. "Interesting…"

"Yes, I've made approximately… eighty-five dollars…"

Pia paused momentarily. "Wait, so you made highly advanced technology… and you've only gotten a mere eighty-five dollars from it?"

"They're failures!" Brian replied. "It is not worth my time to keep them around."

Freezeo let out an audible groan. "Can we focus on the challenge at hand, please and thank you?"

"Jeez, what is the big deal?" Pia replied. "We're trying to get rid of Luna anyway. Why bother with trying?"

"Because I think we should still try _not_ to look suspicious!" Freezeo replied. "We haven't found one stinking note, and I'm pretty sure that if we lose, there's a fair chance that _I_ might get eliminated because we don't have anything!"

"And what makes you think that the bitch in the cafeteria even has one?" Pia replied. "Hell, she's probably gone."

"I don't care! I just want safety!" the Cryogonal exclaimed as he floated across the basketball court. There was a note attached to the backboard of the opposing basketball hoop.

As he left, the two psychic-types watched him with indifferent expressions.

The Crystallizing Pokemon floated up to the backboard, grabbing the note. However, the hoop slammed against him, disintegrating him.

Seeing this, Pia held her head. "Idiot…"

Brian shrugged as he started floating out of the gym. "If your goal is to lose, we might as well try to be captured similarly to the fool…"

Pia gave him a look before following him out.

 **000**

Vixen scoffed as she walked into a large office, where Sally and Sola entered. "What the hell are you talking about? Cano and I are fine!" Vixen exclaimed. "You have no right to talk about us!"

"Look, all I'm saying is he deserves better," Sally replied with a shrug. "You're the main cause of majority of you guys' issues. Don't you think you should be a bit more considerate?"

"I AM CONSIDERATE!" Vixen snapped. "Just because everyone treats me like gum at the bottom of their fucking feet doesn't mean I don't care about my own husband and son!"

Sally sighed. She didn't get it, so why continue? "Whatever you say…"

As the Ninetales followed behind them, she had to hold back tears, while Sola sighed to herself. She wasn't that good with these types of situations, so she just remained silent.

As Sally hopped over the toilet paper covered front desk to check the back of the old, decrepit place.

"She's wrong isn't she?" Vixen asked Sola, teary-eyed.

Sola couldn't really give an answer, because she didn't know. Whenever she saw them outside of the game, they seemed to be going through worse and worse things because of what happened in second and third season. But, Cano always seemed to be the one caring for Vixen, while he looked sickly himself. Dead eyes, somber tone, introverted nature, it just didn't seem right.

And Vixen was never nasty, overbearing, or anything toward him, which made things even more strange.

Receiving no answer, Vixen trembled, tears streaming down her face. Seeing this, Sola sighed softly and brought her close in a hug.

 **000**

" **What? I can't comment on their relationship. It's none of my business," Sola replied. "It don't know what goes on in private, all I know is that Elijah is happy and healthy, and those two have issues because of pricks and what Vixen did in season two…"**

 **000**

Sally sighed as she overturned a desk in the room she was in. "Nothing…"

As she walked back to the door, she found that there was a forcefield keeping her inside. She pushed against it, trying to break through, but to no avail. "You've got to be kidding me…"

She took a few steps back, using Thunder on the doorway, only for the attack to bounce back and hit the ceiling fan, which fell to the ground.

Suddenly, a black and red slimy beast rose from the ground where the ceiling fan landed. Sally was banging on the forcefield in the doorway. "HEY! SOLA! VIXEN! I NEED SOME HELP!"

She heard a growl, causing her to pause. She turned around slowly and was immediately engulfed by the creature.

 **-000-**

"Did you hear that?" Sola queried, having heard Sally's plea for help.

Vixen was sulking, lying on the ground while sobbing. Sola groaned at this before hopping over the front desk and peering into the room that the Light Pokemon had entered.

The Ampharos was gone, and a purplish-red substance was left as a puddle at the doorway. Seeing this, her eyes widened.

"Shit…" she whispered. She rushed back toward the front and saw that Vixen was now gone as well. "Fuck… FUCK!" she exclaimed as she ran out of the office.

 **000**

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that at this point, Anthony's toast…" Sabrina said as she, Marie, Lassie, Summer, and Kojo continued down a hallway.

"He is so shit-filled that it isn't funny…" Marie commented. "So, oh well. I'm actually considering taking him out and replacing him with Lassie at this point. At least _she's_ good company…"

Lassie giggled upon hearing that. "Good to see that I've actually made an impact…"

"Well, between _you_ , and a sarcastic jackass, I think it's pretty obvious which is more tolerable…" Marie continued.

The ringing in Kojo's head wasn't stopping. It was so annoying and painful that Summer was actually carrying him, much to his embarrassment.

"Arceus, I hate my life…" he said, holding his head.

"Aw… that sucks… I don't want to be hated..." Summer teased before nuzzling him. Kojo couldn't hear what she said, but the nuzzling was very comforting for him.

"Alright, we haven't found another note in a long time…" Sabrina said as they stopped next to a pair of double doors. Inside of that room, there were numerous computers covered in grime and mold. They were sitting on scummy, blood-soaked desks with old wooden chairs under them. There was something white on the screen that caught the Staraptor's attention.

"Hey… I think there's another note in there…" she said, pointing a wing at the room.

"Gentlemen first," Lassie commented, gesturing for Kojo to go inside.

The Mienshao couldn't hear anything but the ringing, but seeing Summer's annoyed expression, he could only assume that it was something bad.

"He's not going in there…" Summer stated. "He's already half-deaf because of the last time he went in first…"

"Summer, look. We get it. You like him, or whatever… but in this competition, that kind of shit can and _will_ hinder you," Sabrina stated. "Plus, there's a change that we may win if he's one of the last ones for his team…"

Summer rolled her eyes. A fair amount of relationships in the game ended up lasting and hardly hindered the way the game was played. But, she _was_ right about the challenge part. Plus, if his team lost, he'd just sleep with her again.

She sighed and put him down, which made him look around. He saw Marie's mouth move and she opened the double doors next to them before gesturing for him to go inside. He gave her a look, folding his arms.

"All I hear is fucking RINGING right now because I went toward that other stupid door first, what makes you think that I'll go first again?"

"Oh, so you _can_ hear!"

Kojo didn't respond, he just held an annoyed look toward Marie.

Summer sighed. "Look guys, I'll go," she said. "It's not that big of a deal. Plus, there's three of you. You'll be fine…"

"No Summer, _he_ is the outlier right now, so _he_ is going to go…" Lassie said as she pushed him to the room, which caused the doors to slam shut.

"What the heck!?" Summer exclaimed.

 **-000-**

Kojo groaned as he started to stand up, the blood drenched floor making it difficult and causing him to spit out fluid that entered his mouth. Much to his surprise, he could actually hear again. He got to his feet, slipping a bit, before turning around to the door. He glowered at the girls watching him from the other side of the door.

Kojo just shook his head. "Fuck this. I might as well be alone if that's how they're gonna act. So much for having more than three allies…" he muttered to himself.

He walked over to the computers, and noticed that there was one not on each screen. There were ten computers inside of the room in all, bringing a smirk to Kojo's face. Now if he got captured, at least he'd have ten more points to bring out with him.

 **-000-**

The girls watched as the mustelid collected the notes without worry. Nothing was happening at all.

"What the hell?" Sabrina asked in awe. "How come he's not getting captured?"

"Huh, maybe you should have let _me_ go in like I said I would!" Summer replied.

"Summer, calm down, alright. It's not that big of a deal. He's on the opposing team, how were we supposed to know that there'd be a place that they didn't booby trap?!" Marie responded.

Suddenly, a click was heard, making the girls turn to the left. A large white wall was seen on the left side.

"What the hell is that?" Lassie asked upon seeing it.

The wall began to move toward them, causing them to pale.

"Oh shit…" Marie realized as she tried to open the door, only for it to not budge, as the wall crept closer.

They all banged on the door, but Kojo ignored them, deciding to pretend to still hear nothing but ringing. He was feeling guilty about leaving Summer out there, but a challenge was a challenge.

Lassie phased through the door and tried to undo it from the other side, but the still doors didn't budge.

In a last ditch effort, Marie punched through the glass, which Kojo jumped at. Marie tried to open the door herself, but nothing worked.

"Damn it, just run!" Summer exclaimed as she started running, with Sabrina flying after her. Growling, Marie followed them as the wall passed by the room.

Lassie sighed as she turned to Kojo, who ended up right in front of her, startling her a bit. She took a breath. "Hey, uh… sorry about… _pushing_ you and all…"

Kojo just blinked in response, still pretending not to hear. Seeing his unchanged expression, Lassie sighed, rolling her eyes. She then noticed that notes in his paws, which he took note of.

Immediately, the Mienshao darted out of room, jumping through the broken door window.

"Hey!" Lassie called as she went out after him, only to see that he was completely gone. Her eyes widened. "What… the… hell?!"

She started floating down the hall again, the flickering lights causing her to be in a state of unrest. Soon enough, the lightbulbs began to burst, startling her.

She growled to herself, unable to see why she was being spooked so easily at this point. As she continued on, she failed to noticed that a black and red streak was following her. After a locker toppled over, Lassie turned around, only to be met with a large black and red slime monster. She quickly tried to use Ice Beam and keep it in place, but it failed, she was smacked, causing her to black out.

 **000**

"AND THE LUGIAS WIN!" she heard, waking her back up.

The Lugias cheered, while the Ho-Ohs held looks of annoyance and indifference. Pia and Brian exchanged looks of achievement, while Freezeo simply shook himself.

"Wait, so who was the last one standing for their team?!" Luna exclaimed.

The beast that captured a good majority of them rose from the ground before throwing Frosty on the ground in front of it. Pulling off its head, it was revealed that the beast was none other than Zahku.

"Ugh…" the Snowstorm Pokemon groaned.

"Wait… that thing was _Zahku_?!" Holly exclaimed in shock. "How the hell was he able to do all of that?!"

"Zahku is anomalous," the Hariyama replied simply, causing by Tyson and Colton to gape in amazement and slight fear.

"Well Ho-Ohs, looks like you guys will be heading to elimination…" Victini said as she smacked Mew's stomach, effectively waking him up from his stable slumber.

"What the hell?!"

 **000**

Pia approached Marie and her alliance on the beach, though she didn't really consider them an alliance.

"What do you want, Pia?"

"I'm simply here to give you an option for elimination tonight…" Pia replied.

They exchanged looks, unsure if they'd want to listen to her. They hadn't even discussed their own choices.

"Uh huh… and what choice do you have?" Anthony queried, expecting idiocy.

"Luna, of course," Pia replied. "Seriously, what significance does that bitch even have?"

"Well considering that she found an entire holder if notes… I say she's a good team player," Marie replied with a shrug.

"Okay… and she's colluding with the opposing team at this very moment so… what's your point?"

"What? So she has an alliance with her husband? Big whoop," Anthony replied, folding his arms.

"You realize that most of that stupid extended family is on the other team, right?" Pia replied. "If they make it to the merge, they'll be a powerhouse. We need to take out the bricks if we want that house to crumble."

"Hey, I'm all for that," Sabrina stated, making the others give her a look.

Seeing these looks, Sabrina grew befuddled. "What? She's got a point. Plus, she's a cheater just like the other bitch…"

"How about we _not_ let personal prejudice influence the votes?" Summer replied. "We need to think about who-"

"Who is capable of taking you guys far in the team aspect," Pia finished, already knowing where the badger was going with it. "Yeah yeah, I get that, _but_ you need to think about the future. Are you willing to risk it?"

Summer didn't respond, deciding to only fold her arms.

"Exactly…" Pia replied. "So, I hope you consider…"

The Hypno began walking away, leaving the four of them puzzled.

 **000**

" **Hopefully they get it into their heads that keeping those losers here will only hinder their chances…" Pia stated. "Once Luna's gone… it'll be time to say goodbye to Aura. And I sincerely doubt that anyone would protest other than her or Aspen…"**

" **All too easy…"**

 **000**

"So Clay, who do you recommend this time?" Titan queried as he, Caramad, and Annie sat in their usual forest meeting place.

The Imitation Pokemon thought to himself. "Well at this point in time, I think that you guys should go with who you don't _want_ to be here."

"Aura, alright then," Annie said. "Easy enough…"

"Yeah, she _was_ a pain. And she _was_ one of first few to be eliminated," Cramad replied. "I guess she's perfect."

"Well, that didn't take long to settle," Clay chortled.

Suddenly, other faint voices could be heard from across the lake.

"Oh, I think that's Connor and Taylor!" Annie said as she moved to the bushes. The other three did the same.

 **-000-**

Taylor cleared his throat. "Well, I have to say… you did exceptionally well today…" he praised.

"Oh, uh… thanks," Connor replied, looking to the side awkwardly. He didn't trust Taylor's demeanor, especially after what he said to him in the challenge. Sure, the Milotic did it, but in the back of his head, Connor knew that the Tender Pokemon would want revenge.

"And about your little _outburst_ earlier…" he started.

Connor closed his eyes, expecting a blow to come his way. Instead, he heard a whisper. " _Nice to see that you're growing some balls…"_ Taylor whispered sensually.

Connor's eyes widened, his tone worrying him. Especially when the larger Pokemon coiled around him.

" _I happened to appreciate that…"_ he continued. " _I know you probably don't believe it, but… I like a man that takes charge…_ "

Connor's eye twitched.

" _Keep up the good work, and I'll make sure that you're in the finals…_ " he continued before kissing his cheek, making Connor blush as red as a Tamato Berry.

Taylor slowly uncoiled himself and started heading back toward the campgrounds. As he did, he got back in his right mind and realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

 **000**

" **What… the fuck… did I just do?!" Taylor exclaimed. "I'm not fucking faggot! FUCK! Ugh… well, I mean. Fuck my life!"**

" **That little beefsteak puts me in my place once and immediately I try to borderline solicit him for sex afterwards?! I mean, he** _ **is**_ **cute, and most Bouffalants are…"**

" **...large," he swallowed. He shook his head of those thoughts. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"**

 **000**

" **...W-What just happened?" Connor questioned, a blush still on his face.**

 **000**

"Uh… well, that's unexpected," Clay stated, a bit disturbed about what he'd just witnessed.

"Wait, so all this time the bloke _liked_ him?" Titan queried. "What kind of playground shit is this?"

"Very very awkward…" Cramad replied as the others nodded in agreement.

 **000**

Kojo grumbled to himself in annoyance as he sat at the steps of the Winner's Cabin. Summer, who was heading to the little girl's room, caught wind of him and his disgruntled expression. She sighed, knowing why he was like that. She felt like she needed to make it up to him somehow or at least make him feel better.

Seeing Summer approaching, the Mienshao's expression softened a bit. She took a seat on the same step as him. "Hi…" she greeted.

"Hey," he responded, slouched over.

Summer scooted closer to him, not caring about who found out about them. "I'm sorry about what happened…" she replied.

Hearing her apologize, Kojo rose a brow. It didn't seem right for her to apologize when she was actually sticking up for me. He placed a paw on hers. "It's fine, sweetie. Now, I just know to just avoid your alliance like the plague in these challenges…" he replied tonelessly. "I was actually considering trying to join you guys so that I wouldn't feel so alone."

Hearing that, Summer's eyes widened, unsure about how to feel. "W-what do you mean feel alone? I'm here for you…"

Kojo chuckled before pecking her on the lips. "I know, hun, I mean on my team. It's like each person is in their own little alliance, and then there's me…"

Summer giggled. "Aw, my little man is the odd one out…" she said, pulling him into a hug. "And… you were trying to join us?" she asked, feeling a bit sheepish about the situation.

"I _was_ , but like I said. Like the plague," Kojo replied, folding his arms. "I'm on the opposite team, so I'd rather not be the scapegoat for everything…"

Summer sighed. "Well, at least you still have me," she said with a small smile.

"Yep," Kojo replied before picking her up.

"Whoa!" Summer squeaked as she was lifted up. She cooed and held onto him as they entered the Winner's Cabin.

"HO-OHS! IT'S TIME FOR ELIMINATION! BRING YOUR ASSES DOWN!"

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs reported to the elimination area, taking their seats on the stones. Instead of Mew being there with Victini, he had the new guys, Colton and Tyson, there.

"Alright Ho-Ohs, time for you guys' elimination ceremony," Victini replied. "You should know the drill by now. And, because Mew is a baby, he's back asleep. So, these losers are gonna be the ones doing it tonight. So, get on with it…"

Colton gave him a look of annoyance as he took out and unfolded a piece of paper that was in one of Tyson's holes. "Okay, uh… Annie, Titan, Cramad, Summer, Freezeo, Marie, Anthony, Sabrina, Fez, Brian, Aspen, Pia, Dhaunt, Marion-"

"Wow, you fucking suck…" Victini said, snatching the paper from him. "Not even trying to have suspense…"

"I DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE!"

"Pfft. Excuses…" Victini replied before tossing the paper aside. "Phill, Lassie, and Klavier, you guys got no votes as well."

"I would hope…" Phill commented.

"That leaves… Luna and Aura," Victini said with a smirk.

"Wait… why am I in the bottom!?" Luna exclaimed.

"Because you suck," Aura stated cockily.

"At least I have something _to_ suck…" Luna retorted, making Aura scowl at her.

"Alright. Luna, you're part of a large family that could very well help you, you cheated with Cano-"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

"-and … I don't know, you're ugly?"

Aura laughed, while Luna gaped upon hearing that.

"And Aura… you're acting like an alpha bad bitch because you raped another girl's husband, as well as a gay guy, and had children from them, and you're very annoying in general…" Victini commented.

Aura rolled her eyes, still giggling from Luna's evaluation.

"And the one going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Luna. Aura, you're safe."

"WHAT?!" Luna exclaimed in surprise, getting to her feet. She turned to the others. "You guys seriously voted to keep in AURA over me?!"

"Don't you worry your flea-bitten fur about it, cheater, she's going next indefinitely," Sabrina stated.

Aura, upon hearing that, growled. "We'll see about that, turkey…"

Sabrina tightened her glare toward her.

"Luna… it's time to go…" Victini said.

The Mightyena sighed as she sulked toward the dock as the others began to leave.

 **000**

Luna was on the dock, staring at the elevator doors. She heard quick paws coming behind her and saw that Sparky, as well as the others, had come.

"Luna, what happened?" Sparky queried, angry that she was being eliminated over someone else.

Luna sighed. "Those bastards singled me out because all of you are still here," she explained. "Victini brought up that all of us being together would make me go further or something, and then the bullshit cheating thing with Cano was brought up, so I guess that's why…"

Sparky growled. "Those fucks… wait, who was in the bottom with you?" he asked, wondering if it was someone who was stronger than her.

"...Aura."

They all gaped immediately.

"Ye-"

"Okay, enough family and friend time," Victini said, waving them away as he pushed Luna into the elevator doors. "You lose, so deal with it. Bye."

The trapdoor inside dropped, sending her down the tube.

"Really Victini!?" Shine drawled.

"Yep," the Victory Pokemon replied before turning to the camera. "Who will go down the Suck of Shame next time? Find out next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!"

"...You're a prick," Sola commented as she and the others walked away.

Victini shrugged. "Meh."

 **000**

 **And Luna's gone. Oh well. Let's see what happens next time. Some things were weird and are going to get even weirder, so stay tuned. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	11. Let it Snow!

**Announcer: Last time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs, the contestants explored a spooky LeGrae High School in the search of notes. Connor gained some balls and stood up for himself against Taylor. Summer's alliance treated Kojo like trash. Pia recruited Brian into her and Freezeo's alliance. Sparky didn't want kids, much to Luna's disappointment. Speaking of disappointments, after all of the turmoil and fear instill from the challenge, the Ho-Ohs lost the challenge, and Luna was the one who got sucked away.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

As summer steadily approached, the temperature on the island began to rise exponentially. The beaming sun showered the sub-continental piece of land in heat. It was 4:45 AM and already 98 degrees.

In the Loser Cabin, a fair amount of the Ho-Ohs had been tossing and turning from the high temperature. The added fact that they were inside of a raggedy, wooden cabin made it worse. An attempt was made by Freezeo and Lassie to try to freeze their gender's sides of the cabin in order to cool down. The ice ended up melting, causing to wood to become moist. That, combined with the perspirant of other males and females in the respective cabin sides, caused a putrid smell to engulf both sides.

Meanwhile, in the Winner's Cabin, the Lugias were doing absolutely fine. The air conditioning was on full blast, circulating through the cabin. The outside temperature being so hot made is so that even the competitors who were predisposed to hating the cold were fine with the chilliness of the cabin.

 **000**

Four hours later

 **000**

A sudden chill went up Klavier's spine as he slept strangely sound despite the heat that washed over the cabin. However, it seemed that the heat had disappeared, being replaced by a frigid wind. Did Freezeo try to cool them again?

It seemed that he wasn't the only one who noticed the sudden shift in temperature.

"Whoever turned on the AC, thank you," Dhaunt drawled, sprawled out on his bunk.

Anthony shivered in his bed, pulling his bed's sheets over him. "Yeah, thanks, but could you turn it down just a smidgen? It'd be appreciated."

"Uh… fellas, I don't think it's one of us…" Titan said as he sat up and gazed at the window. Strangely, it was very foggy and a white substance was along the outside pane. He walked toward the window, peering out of the dirty, fogged up structure.

His assumption was correct. Outside, there was a pure, white blanket of snow. The snow covered the steps leading up to the porch of the cabin, meaning that it was twelve and a half inches deep.

"Guys… there's snow!" Titan revealed.

Immediately, the guys that were at the very least _half_ -awake got up and rushed to the windows to investigate for themselves.

They saw that the Galvantula was right.

"It's almost summer! And it was as hot as a Magcargo's body hours ago!" Phill replied, rubbing his eyes. "How is this possible?"

"Hey, weather is weird as fuck sometimes…" Klavier replied with a shrug.

Titan opened the door of their room and an intense, cold breeze rushed in. Immediately upon feeling this, nearly everyone in the cabin either shivered or clenched their limbs and orifices.

"CLOSE THAT DAMN DOOR!" Anthony semi-consciously demanded, opening his eyes slightly before flipping over in his bunk and clenching the sheets tight.

"It's almost nine in the morning," Phill replied, looking at the clock on the opposing wall of the cabin. "I think you're okay. We've gotta see what the hell is going on, anyway…"

"Do we really?" Fez groaned, a pillow covering his head. "Usually I travel to Alola before it gets too cold…"

"Well, I see a sign near one of the trees," Titan explained. "So, I'd say… yes."

Just as he replied, the creaking of another door as heard. Klavier, Phill, and Titan peered out of the doorway and saw Marie step out, seeing their situation.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed, her breath being visible from the low temperature. "When the hell did it snow?!"

"Uh… I think a better question is 'where's the Winner's Cabin'?" Aspen asked, stepping out and seeing that the larger building was not in its usual place. Instead, there were just more coniferous trees.

 **000**

"Okay, I've heard of Christmas in July and S'Winter, but this is just fucking ridiculous," Egridos stated as he stared out of the window of the Winner's Cabin.

"It's a good thing there's a heater in here, too," Sally commented as she took a seat on the front sofa, letting the smooth velvet swallow her. "Or else we'd be popsicles…"

"Where the heck did all of the snow even come from?" Morgan asked, coming from one of the back rooms. "Didn't the weather forecast say it was going to be over 90 degrees for the rest of the week?"

"Well, apparently they were wrong," Egridos responded with a chuckle. "Looks like it's a snow day!"

 **-000-**

Taylor had been tossing and turning in his bed for a good portion of the night. His face was burning and his panting was soft, but erratic. He sat up abruptly, his face drenched in sweat. Feeling something wet on his sheets he lifted them and saw that he had 'produced'. His eyes widened in horror and his head immediately went to Connor, whose bed was closest to the door.

A blush appeared on his face as he tried to pull himself together and understand what was going on. " _What the fuck is wrong with me?_ " he thought to himself before swallowing. _"The cowardly buffalo couldn't take a Ditto's virginity… why would I even dream of that?!"_

"GUYS! WAKE UP!" they heard from the front.

Connor groaned as he heard that. Slowly opening his eyes, the Bash Buffalo Pokemon looked around, and immediately he met eyes with Taylor, who was staring at him.

Expeditiously, Connor jumped off of his bed and rushed out of the door. Taylor sighed.

 **-000-**

Ashton, who had gotten up, noticed a sign near a few trees. Using her vines, she reached out into the frigid environment. She brought the sign toward the door, with Ace closing the door with one of his ribbons.

The old, raggedy wood that made up the sign was cold and wet to the touch due to being in the snow for who knows how long. The sign had a piece of paper on it, with the words being rather blurred due to the moisture.

"What's going on?" Kojo queried as he came to the front, with Summer in tow.

"That's what we're about t-" Sola started before seeing the large badger behind him. "Uh… why's Summer here?"

Everyone that was there turned their heads and saw the Typhlosion sheepishly rubbing the back of her head with a blush. "Uh… hi," she greeted.

"They're dating," Ace stated nonchalantly, looking over the note left on the sign. "Not that big of a deal. Now, how about we see what the hell is going on?"

"Uh… no! We can't just let this slide!" Egridos replied. "Bring the enemy in is treachery at its finest! He could've told her-"

"Told her what? How much you like graham crackers?" Kojo interrupted with an annoyed expression. "Seriously, there is nothing to even say about our team. We don't have any group strategies and we each have our own cliques that we hang out with."

"He's got a point," Carson spoke up. "Plus, they didn't really do anything in our room. They just slept."

"Which is _why_ I said, not that big of a deal!" Ace exclaimed, startling Carson a bit. He then sighed, rubbing his head.

"Uh… are you okay?" Holly asked in concern.

"Yeah… I'm fine," Ace replied, calming himself down.

"Hmm…" Shine started as she read over the note. "Apparently this is a challenge…"

Hearing that, everyone's attention turned back to the Espeon.

"What?" Ashton queried, raising a brow. "What type of challenge-"

 **000**

"-do these idiots have us doing? Making snowmen?" Sabrina queried as Marie read the note attached to the sign.

"Hell, I wouldn't mind that," Dhaunt remarked. "With the bullshit challenges we've had to go through over the years, I'd love to just play in the snow."

" _You all will be tasked to use your survival instincts in order to live. For two days, you must survive with what is on that island of yours, and without using psychic or ghostly influence (i.e. teleportation, kinesis, levitation), as by the time you read this, your cabins will be gone-"_ Marie continued reading. " _Once both days are up, you must find the boats and row your way back to the island. First team back wins…"_

"WHAT?!" Lassie exclaimed. "They expect us to be able to survive out here in the cold?!"

"Well, the cabins aren't gone just yet, so-" Klavier started, only for the Loser Cabin to fade away, making Anthony, Fez, Brian, and Aura to fall onto the snowy ground.

"What the hell?!" the Blastoise bellowed in annoyance.

"Wait, so… they pretty much stranded us out here and we have to keep ourselves from freezing to death for two fucking days?!" Annie exclaimed. "How is that going to work?!"

"Yeah, we don't even know what this island has other than snow," Marion added.

Titan chuckled. "Well, luckily for you lot, me and my mates used to go camping all the time. So, I could help us out."

"Alright, good. We have a borderline survival expert," Freezeo sighed in relief.

"You're an ice-type, what the hell do _you_ have to be worried about?" Aura responded as she walked up.

"How about you keep your lips from flapping and worry about the challenge at hand. Because right now, the agreement is null and void," Sabrina spoke up.

Aura glowered at her.

"Alright sweetie, what do we need first?" Cramad queried.

"Well, the first thing we'll need is a heat source so that we don't freeze," Titan explained. "I'd say that Summer could be the perfect source, but… apparently she isn't here at the moment."

Marie's eyes widened. " _She's still with Kojo!_ "

"What? Where the hell did she go?" Fez queried as she looked around.

"Huh, an MIA teammate that could've been _useful_ ," Aura spoke up. "Looks like that's grounds for _her_ elimination if we end up losing this."

"Don't push your luck, bitch," Phill deadpanned. "She's still more useful than you ever will be…"

"And the same can be same to _you_ , ratboy…" the shiny Glaceon growled, which made Phill simply roll his eyes.

"Look, we can't worry about that right now! We need to make a fire," Aspen stated sternly, giving her friend a look of seriousness. Aura rolled her eyes in annoyance.

 **000**

" **I'm tired of these nimrods acting like what I did is the worst thing that has ever happened in the entire history of this fucking game," Aura growled. "Ray abused me when I was pregnant, then got raped in a prison, Shade killed a fucking prisoner, Ricky and Demenio kissed before, Vixen has had her share of kissing partners, Jet got bike parts lodged up his ass, Spike kept on needling Flynn, Otto and Flame were driving Archie to suicide… there's a shit ton of crap that happened, but they can't let what I did go?"**

" **Fuck them…"**

 **000**

"Alright, so we have… nothing," Farra commented as she and the other Lugias sat or stood around in the snow.

"We told Vixen to make a fire, but she's being all pissy for some reason," Egridos said with a shrug.

It was true. After what Sally told her about her and Cano's relationship, she had been thinking restlessly about it. She didn't know what to make of it, but the competition most definitely wasn't on her mind anymore.

Seeing this, Farra growled and turned to Summer, the only other fire-type in the vicinity at the moment. "Alright Summer, since you're here, you're gonna help us…"

Hearing this, Summer scoffed. "As if," she said, rising to her feet. "You guys have your own fire starters, meanwhile my team currently has _none_. So, if you'll excuse me…"

Kojo chortled at her response as she started to walk away.

"If you don't do it, we'll get rid of Kojo if we lose," Sally stated abruptly, causing everyone's eyes to fall on her.

Summer stopped walking and clenched her fists before turning her head to face her. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, could you please fucking repeat that?" Kojo replied, standing up abruptly. "Why the fuck do _I_ have to be eliminated?"

"She's _your_ girlfriend, that _you_ brought into the Winner's Cabin without asking any of us, which makes you two connected at this point in time," Sally explained, folding her arms. "I mean, has he really done anything outstanding for the team?"

"Neither have you, though," Connor spoke up. "Or Carson, or Holly, or Amethyst, or Sola, or even myself. That could go for a good amount of us here."

"Yeah, Connor's right," Holly spoke up. "We can't just eliminate him because he won't force his girlfriend to do something."

"Will you guys just think strategically for once?! Stop letting morality and thoughtfulness cloud your judgment. That's how a good chunk of us ended up in this season to begin with!" Sally replied.

"I thought we were here because Victini thought that we sucked," Carson responded.

Growing fed up with her team's lack of sense and understanding of what she was trying to do, Sally just pushed harder. "Look, Summer. Either you help us out, or your little boy toy here is getting sucked off, and it won't be from a Pokemon…" she reiterated.

At this point, all eyes went to Summer, who was both shocked and aggravated by the Light Pokemon's threat. She felt that it was a front just to get her to do it, but she also didn't want to risk it if she was somehow serious.

Summer growled, glaring daggers at Sally, who smiled in accomplishment. Seeing this, Kojo growled. "No."

"What?" Sally questioned in befuddlement.

"Yeah, I agree with the sheep bitch, what do you mean 'no'?" Taylor replied.

"You're not gonna use me as some kind of fucking hostage just so Summer can do your bidding," Kojo stated sternly. "I'm not letting you risk her being eliminated…"

"Okay, can we just stop this?" Shine cut in. 'We're all adults here, so let's _act_ like it and try to work this out…"

"Yeah, I'm with Shine," Ashton agreed. "There's no reason that this discussion should even be happening."

"I blame the kissy bitch," Egridos chimed in, referring to Vixen, who was still lying idle. "If she just made the fire, we wouldn't be bothered with Mr. and Mrs. Weasel."

"Well, we still need a fucking fire, so she might as well make it," Farra spoke up.

Shine groaned at this.

Sola sighed, lifting her head up from the cold snow. "You guys realize that electrical fires exist, too, right?"

Upon hearing that, immediately all eyes turned to Sally, who sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. Sparky, who had just been silent the whole time, turned to one of the coniferous trees. He rose up from the snow without a word, with only Morgan, Connor, and Amethyst taking note of his movement.

Facing a tree, he took a deep breath. His eyes turned a blood red and sparks began popping from his fur. Eventually, lighting fired up into the sky.

The sudden action got everybody's attention as they turned to face the Gleam Eyes Pokemon.

"What the hell are you-"

Suddenly, an intense bolt of lightning struck the tree, setting it on fire while simultaneously splitting it in half. Sparky simply stared at the fire, marveling at what he'd just provided.

"Nice one, Sparks," Sola remarked.

The feline didn't respond; he didn't even move an inch. The fire was the only thing that had his attention at that moment.

"Alright, we have a fire now," Frosty spoke as he sighed in relief. "So, are we all calm and satisfied now?"

Sally, seeing the flames coming from the trees, rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered.

Hearing this, Kojo picked up Summer and started carrying her into the forest. Seeing this, a few of his teammates grew either concerned and irritated.

"Where are you going, Kojo?" Morgan asked, sounding tired. She didn't need him to just up and leave. They needed to stick together for this challenge.

"I'm taking her back to her team," he stated sternly.

"You don't even know where they are!" Taylor shouted. "If you get lost, we're _definitely_ getting rid of you, then."

"FUCK YOU!"

 **000**

With help from Marion, the Lugias were able to create a suitable fire using her Will-O-Wisp. A few fallen sticks had been gathered by Phill and were placed in the area where the cabin once stood. The thick, blunt sticks were moist, but, despite this, the Will-O-Wisp was able to burn the wood.

A chill wafted through the air, causing a good amount of the contestants to shiver.

"Two whole days of this, huh?" Dhaunt remarked. " _Greeeat_ …"

"Well, t-technically, t-two days just means that we leave in the a-afternoon t-tomorrow," Klavier explained, still shivering in the cold snow.

"My hands are numb," Anthony complained, lifting his arms and holding them close to the fire.

"Alright, keeping the sticks on the snow is not a good thing. The breezes and the closeness to the snow will eventually make the fire fizzle out," Titan explained.

"How? Fire melts snow, idiot…" Aura commented.

"Snow is just glorified, soft ice," Annie replied. "Hush."

"We can just have Marion use Will-O-Wisp again," Cramad suggested.

"Yes, that would work, but we still need something so that the fire doesn't go out so fast," Titan replied. "A campfire pit could work wonders, but the rocks would likely be cold and the temperature and moisture could hinder the fire's growth…"

"Jeez, you _really_ know all of this just from camping?!" Lassie queried.

"Nearly ten years of personal outdoor survival experience and watching a lot of the Discovery Channel," Titan replied. "Now, if Summer was here, she could use her flames to melt a good amount of this area so that we don't have to sit on the snow. So, unless someone else has an idea on what we can do about that problem, I suggest that we split up."

"Split up for what?" Freezeo queried.

"Well, we need food, and we also need to build a shelter for the night," Titan explained. "So, I think that splitting up will allow us to find resources faster. So, any volunteers for food gathering?"

Initially, nobody volunteered, instead passing glances back and forth, hoping that someone who take that responsibility. Titan could tell that this wasn't going to go anywhere and sighed. "Come on mates, we need to get this done if we're gonna survive out here…"

"Why should we bother? We're all immortal anyway," Aura replied, rolling her eyes. "We might as well just sit here and wait until-"

"Silence, bitch!" Anthony interrupted. "You're an ice-type, therefore, you do not get to say that we shouldn't bother. The rest of us actually want some sort of _comfort_ out here in this frozen wasteland!"

"Okay, then how about you _contribute_ , instead of running your mouth?" Marie suggested. "Go fetch us some food."

"I'm not a fucking mutt," the Shellfish Pokemon retorted with a glare.

"Alright screw this, Klavier and I will try to find some food since you're all too lazy," Phill said as he got to his feet.

"Wait… w-we will?" Klavier replied, still shivering, not wanting to move from the fire.

" _Yes…_ " Phill said sternly, grabbing one of his claws and pulling him down.

Klavier, who had been standing on his tail, groaned as his feet touched the ground. Phill climbed on the ground- and flying-type's back. "Alright, let's go!"

Letting out a sigh, the Gliscor started flying into the forest.

"Oh yes, two nimrods on a quest to get food," Sabrina commented. "Harold and Kumar, anyone?"

"Hey, at least they're actually contributing to the team's survival," Fez replied. "Unlike you…"

"What are you trying to say, toothpick?" Sabrina retorted, tightening her glare.

Fez blinked, unfazed by her tone and glare. "I… think it's self-explanatory."

"Well, you see that nobody else around here is contributing to shit, so you obviously have something you want to say to be in specific," Sabrina pried. "So go on, be a man and own up to it."

Fez chortled, shaking his head. "Seriously? I've been acting like an adult about our situation and towards others for the most part, while you've just been talking shit to me and flinging childish insults and nicknames to others left and right. You know that you're not always like this. Grow the fuck up…"

Immediately Sabrina tackled Fez and started smacking him with her wings, her eyes red with anger. "You don't get to tell me to grow up when you did the most childish thing imaginable and ruined us!" she squawked as Marie pulled her off of him.

Fez sat up, seemingly unaffected by Sabrina's outburst and attack on him. The Unfezant only eyed his ex; he saw that she was holding back tears, panting heavily. Eyes fell upon either one or both of them. The Proud Pokemon got back onto his feet, as he had been knocked down, and started walking away from the group. Seconds later, he flew off.

The Staraptor glared at his retreating form and went after him, wanting to give him a more brutal piece of her mind.

"Sabrina! Come on!" Marie called out.

"Welp… hopefully they bring back some food," Dhaunt commented, rubbing his stomach.

"Well, the food situation is semi-handled, I guess..." Titan commented exasperatedly. "How about shelter? Anyone willing to do that?"

"Hmm… Dhaunt, Lassie, and-"

"No," Pia interrupted. "Brian, Freezeo, and I can handle shelter. What are we looking for, Titan?"

"A cave _would_ be nice, but I'm unsure if there are any around here," the Galvantula replied. "So, if you guys can't find a cave, just try to find a bunch of big sticks. Hmm, or better yet… it's okay. You guys can stay here."

"Make up your mind, fool!" Brian exclaimed. "Do we require shelter or do we not?

"We do… but I have it covered," Titan replied as he started walking toward a set of trees. Everyone that sat there exchanged glances, with a few of them going off to explore.

 **000**

"Kojo, you can put me down now…" Summer stated with a slight giggle.

The Mienshao had carried the larger gal until he reached a rather large tree. There, he placed her down and chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist, with her facing the tree.

Summer giggled, feeling Kojo grind against her rear. "Dirty boy~"

Kojo chuckled as Summer turned around to face him. The couple stared at each other for a while before locking lips. Summer's warm body kept Kojo warm as their makeout session continued.

After about ten seconds, the couple broke their kiss. Summer sighed in relief, hugging him. "I love you…"

"I love you, too," Kojo replied, hugging her back.

"I hope they don't vote you out because of me if you guys lose…" Summer replied, slowly easing out of the hug.

Kojo sighed upon hearing that possibility. "Well, considering I'm the odd man out, it's a possibility…" he replied. "Sally's turning into a real bitch…" he commented.

Summer giggled. "She's probably just trying to be tough for once since Jet isn't around to be the tough guy for her…"

Hearing that made the Mienshao smile. "True enough…" he replied. "So, ready to keep going?"

"Well, I wouldn't really mind spending a bit more time together…" she said teasingly. "But, we both have a challenge to attend and if we don't, we're likely on the chopping block for our respective teams."

"Yeah," Kojo replied in understanding. He grabbed Summer by the waist and hoisted her up again, holding her like a toddler, his arm under her bottom.

The Typhlosion scoffed. "Really, hun?"

"I love you, too," Kojo responded as he continued walking with her.

 **000**

"Was the barrage of threats really necessary?" Holly queried as the other members of the Lugias began splitting up into different parties to find food and shelter. "Seriously, cross-team relationships should not be as big of a deal as you guys are making it!"

"Bitch, you're single, and probably will be for the rest of your life. Stay in your place and play your role. Go find the food..." Taylor commented, drawing in the snow with his tail.

Hearing that, Holly, as well as a few other girls, glared at him. Carson spoke up after thinking about something. "Well, technically, since you're ga-"

"Finish that, and I'll make you wish you never competed in this game…" Taylor threatened, giving him a warning glare.

"Aw, what's the matter?" Sola teased. "The big bad Milotic too ashamed to admit that he likes dick?"

"Bitch, you can go fuck yourself _and_ that psycho lion over there. That's all you sluts are good for anyway…" Taylor retorted, earning him a Thunderbolt from her.

Connor, seeing all of this go down, was ecstatic. Taylor trash-talking the girls would surely get him eliminated! And after what he did to him yesterday during their meeting, he wanted him gone as soon as possible.

Taylor growled, grumbling to himself as smoke emerged from his body slightly from the electric attack. He turned to Connor, who had a small smile on his face, which immediately faded once he looked at him. He knew that things would be awkward, but he decided to go through with it anyway.

"Connor, you're with me…" he stated.

Immediately, Connor blanched. "Uh… I don't think-"

"Now!" Taylor stated sternly, glowering at the Bouffalant.

"No!"

Taylor growled, using his tail and grabbing the bovine by a back leg before being dragged through the snow and into the woods.

"Good riddance…" Shine commented.

"Uh, shouldn't we be concerned about Connor?" Ashton queried, looking at the drag marks that the Bouffalant made with his hooves.

"Meh, he's a big boy who can take care of himself," Morgan remarked with a shrug. "If he can't, that's _his_ problem. Now-"

"Are we really going to eliminate Kojo if we lose this?" Amethyst spoke up in confusion.

The other girls exchanged looks of unsurety as the fire that Sparky created continued to burn. Slowly, it began to dissipate, much to everyone's annoyance.

"Well…" Shine started. "... he's more useful than other annoyances on the team and the cross-team relationship doesn't necessarily mean anything. So, I think it's safe to say that Sally's threat was _hollow-_ "

"Hey!" Sally exclaimed.

"-and Kojo is going to stay, even _if_ we end up losing," the Espeon finished.

"I wasn't even being serious!" Sally explained. "I was trying to scare her into helping the team, but you guys took it to heart! Kojo is a good asset, and at the very least, he's better than the other hindrances that we have on the team. He's not going anywhere unless he royally fucks up."

"Well, you could've made that more-"

A cold breeze wafted through the air, causing everyone in the vicinity to shiver, interrupting Sola's thought. The wind blew at the fire, causing it to reach a tree next to it. The heat caused the next tree to ignite a bit, but the snow was able to keep it from spreading further due to the high quantity of it still on the branches.

"Okay, we need a better fire," Holly commented. "One that _doesn't_ have the chance of causing a forest fire…"

"Vixen… will you _please_ just make the damn fire for us?" Morgan pleaded, looking at the still sulking Ninetales, who was practically wrapped up in the snow at this point.

Shine, seeing the Fox Pokemon in this position, turned to the cause of her despondency. Sally, who, out of boredom, was starting to make a snowman, saw the Espeon's piercing glare in her direction and grew confused. "What?"

"Did you _have_ to talk about her relationship in such a poor light?" Shine queried. "They already go through enough."

"Look, I just said what I thought," Sally defended. "She's done sexual things with other guys, whether they were accidental or intentional, I don't know. But, Cano has literally been faithful and supportive all of the way through, and every time I see him in this game, he looks tired, dead inside, and just depressed overall! And it's because of the controversy!"

"I understand that, but it's not your place to say it," Shine explained. "She has to deal with the consequences of it just like he has to; she didn't want all of this. Hell, their freaking house got burned down because of that!

Sally's eyes widened upon hearing that; she didn't know that things were _that_ bad. Now she felt like a bitch for saying what she did.

Farra, hearing that, rolled her eyes. "You guys are so fucking annoying," she remarked, kicking snow in their direction. "You always have to bring some sort of idiotic problem to the show with you that ends up fucking up and changing everyone's thoughts of you. Seriously, Vixen is a slut, case closed. It doesn't fucking matter if she was drugged or not; she did it, so move the fuck on."

Vixen buried her face in the snow, covering her eyes to hide her tears.

"Farra, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Sola exclaimed with a glare.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that what I said actually mattered to you people," the Girafarig continued. "I mean, you guys always brush off and pull shit out of your ass to defend any insult or comment you get that actually contributes to pulling off your shitty mask."

"What the hell are you on about?" Shine replied with a glare of her own.

"Shine, you're fucking married to a psychotic killer and he's not in fucking jail!" Farra exclaimed. "You're either delusional or you see something that isn't fucking there!"

Shine scoffed. "No, the problem is that _you_ guys only see the bad side of him, which is when he's angry or agitated in some way. You hardly ever see him in a good mood because of this bullshit game that we're forced to play! So, unless you see him outside of the game and he's killing a random guy or one of our neighbors, you don't get to say anything…"

"Yep, like I said. Pulling shit out of your ass to defend something that doesn't deserve to be defended…" Farra replied mockingly.

"Okay, can we _please_ calm down here?" Carson spoke up, not liking where things were going.

"Stay out of it!" all of the girls, minus his friends, exclaimed, startling him.

The steel- and psychic-type sighed.

 **000**

Taylor had dragged Connor to an area that was encircled with trees. The Milotic tossed the Bouffalant forward with a _THUD_ , causing Connor to tremble involuntarily due to the coldness of the snow. He got to his feet, glaring at Taylor in annoyance.

"T-thanks for k-kidnapping me…" Connor stated while shivering, irritation evident in his voice. "What? Are you g-gonna m-molest me some m-more?"

Hearing that, Taylor smacked him in the face with his tail. "Of course not, you idiot! We're here for the challenge and for me to talk to you _about_ that."

Connor rubbed his face in the snow to make the sting of the slap ease up. He then eyed Taylor warily. "What the hell is there to say about it?"

"Well…" Taylor started, a blush already appearing on his face. "I don't fucking know what came over me, okay! It happened, I didn't really want it to, and I regret it."

Connor sighed in relief. "Thank Arceus. I thought that you were really coming on to me…"

"Of course not. Just because your species have long meaty poles that could… very well satisfy me and… make me moan like the little slut I-" Taylor trailed off, realizing what he wa saying.

He looked down at Connor, who was staring at him in fear and embarrassment, a blush on his face. Taylor shook his head, trying to get the naughty thoughts he was having out of his head. "Why the fuck is this happening?!"

The Milotic slithered over to a tree and began slamming his head against it. In doing so, the tree shook, making snow fall down onto his head and body.

"Well, uh… I'm just gonna go back to the others…" Connor said warily as he started walking back in the direction of his hoof marks.

Taylor popped his head out of the pile of snow and grabbed the Bouffalant by the tail before dragging him right back. "No. You are going with me. End of story…"

Connor sighed.

 **000**

Klavier and Phill were hiding behind a set of snow-covered bushes. The duo watched as a Beartic entered a cave with a pile of berries in its arms. They didn't know what type of berries they were, but food was food.

Klavier's stomach growled, making Phill pull him down to ground level. The Beartic, having heard the sound, stepped back out of its rocky domain. Scanning its surroundings, it eventually retreated back into the cave.

Peeking through the bushes yet again, Phill breathed out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one."

"Well what are we going to do?" Klavier queried. "That's food _and_ shelter! We just need to get that Beartic out of there..."

"Well, considering that I have no moves that are effective against that thing, I say that we're hosed…" Phill commented.

Klavier hit his claws together nervously before looking over to the cave. The Raticate, noticing his friend's demeanor, rose a brow. "Uh… you okay?"

"Um… I may or may not have a few moves that can beat the crap out of the Beartic…" the Gliscor explained. "I just don't know if I'll last that long to even attempt it…"

"If you never try, you never know…" Phill replied. "Plus, I've your back, bro. Just because you're super weak against ice-types doesn't mean you'll automatically lose."

"I'm pretty sure that _is_ the case," Klavier replied.

"Just come on…" Phill said as he went through the bushes, causing a lot of rustling. The sound of the jostling leaves in the bush brought the Freezing Pokemon back to the cave entrance again. Immediately, its eyes set on Phill and it growled angrily.

He took a breath before attempting to blast an Ice Beam at Phill. The Raticate jumped out of the way, and the Ice Beam caused a group of icicles to emerge from the ground. Once he was out of the way, Phill rushed to its leg, using Super Fang on it. The Beartic roared out in pain before kicking Phill against the cave wall.

"Ow! Fuck! Klavier!" he shouted as the Beartic proceeded to pummel him.

Klavier groaned before emerging from the bushes, hugging himself to keep himself warm. He took a breath and flew forward, his mouth beginning to spew flames. The Beartic turned around just in time for Klavier to bite its chest with Fire Fang.

The Beartic roared out in pain once again, punching Klavier into the snow with Superpower. Phill used Shadow Ball while lying down, writhing in pain. The blackish-purple orb struck the Beartic's rear, causing it to topple over onto Klavier, who grunted.

Phill slowly got onto his feet, clutching his stomach. He walked toward Klavier, who was groaning with the unconscious Beartic on his back, giving him a glare.

"What the heck, man!?" Phill exclaimed. "You were supposed to come out behind me!"

"I got nervous!" Klavier explained apologetically. "Sorry…"

The Raticate sighed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever…"

Phill started walking toward the cave. Going inside of the dark, stone domain, he saw the pile of berries in the middle. However, he also heard whimpers. Squinting, he looked deeper into the cave and saw three Cubchoo huddled into a corner, covering their heads.

He paled before looking at the berries and then back at the baby bears. "Oh fuck my life…"

 **000**

Sparky, after creating the fire for his team and hearing Farra's mindless rant, went out on a walk in order to clear his head. He wasn't entirely sure what got over him when he made the tree catch on fire. He was still infuriated over the fact that Luna was eliminated for practically nothing. She was a good asset to her team and tried not to get on anyone's bad side.

But, because of Pia's stupid lie and these people's blatant hypocrisy and idiocy, she had to be cast aside, while a bitch like Aura, a nobody like Annie, and an _actual_ cheater like Fez were left unscathed. It was like every time he or anyone related to him in some way were placed in the game after the second season, they had to be subjected to petty insults, early eliminations, pain, and hypocrisy. It happens to everyone, but it just seems like it happens to them the most.

While thinking, he ended up running into a tree. He looked up, only for snow to fall onto his face. Shaking his head to get the snow off, he heard a deep, familiar voice behind him.

Turning around, he saw… _himself_? It was another Luxray, though this one looked older, stronger, and much more… _vicious_. Sparky's eyes widened. "D-Dad?"

In response, the opposing Luxray struck him, sending him into a tree. " _You're such a little bitch. All of your dumb siblings know what they have in them, and you're just now learning to channel your anger…"_

Groaning, Sparky tried getting to his feet, only to be struck back down by another harsh blow. " _I would've expected you to be the first; you're the spitting image of myself and your whore of a mother…"_

 _Sparky growled upon hearing that, only to be hit once again; this time he felt something crack. He coughed aggressively, attempting to get his breath back._

" _But… just like the others, you're a fucking… disappointment!"_ he said, kicking Sparky in the face, knocking him out cold.

" _You're no son of mine… none of you are. Pathetic, spineless babies. I don't even see why you bother marrying these sluts…"_ he trailed off as Sparky blacked out.

 **-000-**

" _Sparky… Sparky!"_

The Luxray snapped out of his trance. Looking around, he realized that he was still standing in the same spot in front of the now smoky tree. The fire he created had fizzled out due to constant breezes and temperatures.

He let out a breath, lying down in the snow before panting heavily. " _What the fuck was that_?" he thought to himself. " _There's no way that just happened…_ "

"Uh… are you okay?" Sola inquired, noticing his panting

Sparky looked at her in the corner of his eye before his breathing started slowing. As he prepared to answer, he was interrupted.

"Who the hell cares?" Farra spoke up. "We need to worry about the challenge, not about an attention seeking pussycat!"

"SHUT UP, COCOON FUCKER!" Sparky snapped. "YOU DON'T GET TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'VE BEEN ON A QUEST FOR COCOON COCK SINCE YOU GOT ON THIS FUCKING SHOW! Newsflash: HE DOESN'T WANT YOU!"

Everyone froze upon stared at him upon hearing his response. Looking at Farra, the Girafarig glared daggers at the Gleam Eyes Pokemon. Her eyes glowed blue as Sparky was suddenly lifted up and bashed into a tree numerous times.

"Farra, stop!" Frosty exclaimed, blasting an Ice Beam at her.

After the sixth time, Farra stopped, allowing Sparky to drop, unconscious. Her lower body was encased in ice as she panted out of rage. "You don't treat me like a mindless slut… Vixen is the only one around here…"

"FARRA!" Frosty exclaimed. "Seriously, STOP! Ever since this season started, you've been a hardass, but now that Striker's gone, you've gone off the deep end!"

"YOU DON'T GET IT!" Farra yelled back.

"Okay, this is just getting worse and worse…" Morgan commented with a sigh. "The fire's out, we have no food and no shelter, and arguments are starting…"

"Well, hopefully the others find food and shelter," Holly spoke. "If not, we'll have to make or try to find them on our own…"

"Wait… I just realized something," Carson started. "Farra used a psychic-type move… and they said that they and ghost-type moves weren't allowed…"

Hearing that, everyone in the vicinity glowered at Farra, who looked down in disappointment and anger.

"So, not only do you injure a teammate, but you break a rule that may end up getting us disqualified?!" Sally exclaimed.

"He shouldn't have talked about me like that!" Farra argued back. "It's _his_ fault!"

"FARRA!" Frosty exclaimed. "Stop. Talking. You're not helping your case…"

Farra rolled her eyes.

 **000**

Fez, flying overhead, happened to notice a large crate sitting in an opening. He rose a brow, curious as to what it was and if it could be used to help them out. As he started flying down, he heard a whirring sound behind him.

He turned his head to see what was going on, only to be struck by a blue blur, sending him crashing to the ground. Landing in the snow roughly, Fez groaned in pain. Looking up, he saw that it was Sabrina who attacked him.

"Who do the fuck do you think you are?!" she seethed. "You cheat on _me_ , and you're making _me_ look like the bitch!? I don't know what that ass-backwards father of yours taught you, but you don't know shit about relationships or how to treat women."

Fez didn't respond to her, instead getting to his feet in order to inspect the nearby crate. Annoyed with his silence, Sabrina flew up behind him and smacked him with one of her wings. "ANSWER ME!"

Being struck again, Fez was growing annoyed with her attitude. She was acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum. He ignored her outbursts and approached the crate. The wooden box was larger than both of them, which made him a bit anxious.

Another cold breeze wafted through the area, making Fez shiver a bit, while Sabrina seethed in fury. "Arceus damn it, why did it have to be a cold island they left us at?" he muttered, looking around.

He flew up onto the top of the crate and started stomping on it in order to try and open it. Having no success, he flew up and moved his wings back before thrusting them forward, using Air Slash. The attack hit the crate, slicing clean through the wood.

Once the pieces slid off, the contents of the crate spilled out. There was wood, a few blankets, and a single sack of discolored berries.

"Wow, a whole wooden crate with wood _inside_ of it," Fez drawled before looking up. "Thanks, Santa…"

"Shut the fuck up and just grab the stuff," Sabrina said, taking hold of the sack with her talons. "Having something is better than nothing…"

"Aw… you're actually working with me like a civilized Pokemon," Fez remarked. "Thanks…"

Sabrina shot him a glare, silencing him. She smirked to herself. At least he reacted to _that_. She took off with the bag of berries, with Fez taking hold of the blankets before flying behind her.

 **-000-**

The Lugias that were still in their main area was in awe at what Titan had accomplished. Using his electrified threads, he was able to use the trees to weave a dome of sorts. It was large enough to hold everyone on the team, and, while not exactly warm, at the very least it was a place of cover.

"Okay… I admit it, this is pretty nice," Anthony commented, his arms folded.

"Nice?" Aura scoffed. "This is just a glorified igloo made of electrified spider webs! You're still sleeping on the cold ass ground and the fire still has a chance of going out or _burning_ -"

"Aura, shut… the fuck up," Pia responded. "You're just sitting here complaining while contributing jack shit…"

"Huh, maybe we should have kept _Luna_ instead?" Freezeo spoke up, making Pia roll her eyes.

"Or maybe, we should just ignore Aura's bullshit and just move on with our lives," Marie said as she entered the dome.

"Shelter's all ready if you lot are up for it," Titan said, panting a bit from exhaustion.

"You've really outdone yourself here," Lassie commented, looking around.

"Thanks…" he replied.

"What is the point of such a large temporary homestead?" Brian queried. "We do not have any predators at the moment that will be on the prowl for us, and even with this confounded home, we do not have pure protection from the elements!"

"Brian, if you don't like the dome, don't sleep in it," Annie said simply as she entered the web dome with the others.

"Why do we even have to sleep? It's still morning," Dhaunt commented. "I just want breakfast…"

Anthony chortled. "Well, ask and you may receive, buddy boy," the Blastoise said, pointing up at the sky. Everyone looked up and saw Sabrina and Fez flying back toward them with the sack and blankets.

Landing, Sabrina tossed the sack forward, allowing a few of the berries to fall into the snow. "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner's here…" she commented tonelessly before eyeing the structure created by Titan. "Huh...nice work…"

"Where'd you guys get this stuff?" Cramad queried, receiving one of the blankets from Fez. "It seems kinda weird to just have these all of a sudden."

"Eh, there was some crate sitting around," Fez explained nonchalantly. "I opened it and this stuff was in it. But, there were more wood planks in it, too, which was dumb."

"Wood planks?" Marie asked before looking down. She lifted one of her feet from the snow and gained an idea. "Go back and get those planks! We can make a floor for the web dome and sleep on that!"

"And we can move the fire inside!" Marion finished.

"Okay, we've definitely got this challenge in the bag," Dhaunt said, tossing a Persim Berry into his mouth. "Hmm… maybe someone should go find Phill and Klavier. There's no point in them being out at this point…"

 **000**

Phill and Klavier dragged the still unconscious Beartic into its cave. Phill grunted as this happened, not used to lugging such weight. Klavier was shivering erratically from being pinned to the cold ground by the larger bear. Now he was pulling it into a cave, _wonderful_.

Hearing the rustling of bushes nearby, Phill dropped the left foot of the Beartic, worried about the possibility of another Beartic emerging.

Klavier noticed Phill's look of worry and rose a brow. However, he soon heard rustling as well. He swiftly crouched down behind his Raticate friend, making him groan in exasperation. "You have Fire Fang!"

Soon enough, two figures emerged from the bushes, giggling. Hearing the laughter, Phill and Klavier exchanged looks of bewilderment before seeing who it was.

Kojo and Summer emerged from the bushes, the latter still being carried. Seeing this, Phill cracked a smile while Klavier sighed in relief.

The couple noticed what was going on and grew wide-eyed, with Kojo placing the Typhlosion on the snowy ground. "Uh… what the hell is going on here?" Summer asked in befuddlement.

"Well, uh… we were looking for food, we saw this Beartic with a bunch of berries, and uh… we had to beat it," Phill explained.

"But, turns out this is a mama bear and it has three cubs in there that are scared to death of us, now," Klavier finished.

Summer facepalmed, while Kojo could only blink in response. "Well, uh… I don't know how to really respond to that."

"Summer, where've you been?" Phill queried. "I mean, I know _where_ you've been, but y'know…"

"Oh uh… Kojo and I went asleep in his bed last night and I ended up staying there," Summer replied. "Then those assholes threatened to vote him out if I didn't help them. Side note: I didn't help them…"

"Yeah, because I wouldn't let you," Kojo said, wrapping his arms around her waist lovingly. Summer giggled softly as she bucked back, forcing him into a sitting position, with her in his lap.

"So, did you two… y'know…" Klavier whistled following his question, causing the couple to blush and exchange looks.

"Well, given that Victini apparently sells the footage of others screwing to porn sites, I think we're gonna wait until we're both eliminated and completely out of the game," Summer said, kissing Kojo's cheek. "I only want _my_ man to know my moves…"

"But… haven't you dated Ray and some Greninja?" Phill queried, raising a brow. "Don't they know your moves, too?"

"Nope," Summer said, turning to face Kojo, while still sitting in his lap. "We may have dated and screwed, but those two have no idea what _I'm_ capable of…"

She initiated another kiss with Kojo, who gladly accepted it.

"I love you," he said, squeezing her rear playfully, making her lick her lips in response.

" _Save it…_ " she whispered sensually, making him chuckle.

"Well, uh, on the way here, did you happen to find anything good?" Klavier replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "We can't take these berries, so…"

"Nope, sorry," Summer said, getting back onto her feet. "I was bit too busy dealing with assholes and having mine nearly being _prodded_ …" she turned to Kojo with a sultry smirk.

"Hey, I told you my hand slipped," Kojo chuckled, getting back on his own feet.

"Sure," Summer replied, rolling her eyes coyly.

"Okay, as much as I'd _love_ picturing that…" Phill started sarcastically. "We need to focus on the challenge… it's cold as fuck out here and I'd rather just go back empty-handed than continue further at this point…"

"Yeah, speaking of the challenge, I _should_ be going," Kojo replied. "I can't _wait_ to hear how I'm likely going to cost us the challenge somehow. Good luck guys…"

He pecked Summer on the cheek before starting to go back in the direction from where he came. Summer dreamily watched him retreat, biting her lip just think about the mustelid being over her and them going at it.

"Wow, you guys are getting pretty serious, huh?" Klavier queried as he and Phill walked away from the Beartic.

"Yeah…" Summer said thoughtfully. "He's such an amazing guy. I just don't see why that stupid Floatzelle bitch denies him and treats him like shit."

Phill shrugged. "That's her problem," he replied. "Come on. Let's get back to the team. Your assistance is needed…"

"I bet it is…" Summer replied with a sigh as she started following the rat and gargoyle bat back to her team.

 **000**

Egridos, deciding to see if he could find the opposing team, floated through the forest. He wanted to know what they were doing to see if they were struggling or doing better than them. If it was the latter, he was going to have some fun and do something about it in order to ensure that his wreck of a team had an advantage, or at the very least, the other team was doing just as bad, if not worse.

He didn't really know where to look, but after going straight forward, the Coffin Pokemon came upon another opening. He didn't see anyone from the Ho-Ohs there, but he _did_ find a large crate, similar to the one found by Fez.

"What the hell is a big ass crate doing out here?" he queried. "They didn't mention this on the note…"

However, as he thought about, he sighed. "Of course they did. _Survive with what is on the island…_ "

Realizing this, he gaped. "That means… there could be more crates around here!" he exclaimed.

" _Wow!"_ the ghost-type heard a faint exclamation in the distance.

Deciding to follow the source, he went through the trees before he eventually found the other team. His eyes widened at what he saw.

The yellow dome was glistening from the minor sunlight it got. He saw that they had berries, blankets, and were actually using wood to create a floor on the inside of the dome.

They also had three fires at the ready, making him grumble to himself. Everyone on their team was there, and he growled to himself as he headed back.

Going back to the crate, he gained an idea that'd make sure their team had the upper hand in the challenge.

 **-000-**

Ace shook Sparky gently to get him to wake up. He didn't budge. "Uh… I don't know if he's breathing it not…"

"Great… just great," Sally commented. "Now we're down a player. Thanks Farra…"

The Girafarig, who hadn't thawed out due to the cold temperature, shivered as she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe have Vixen kiss him," Taylor teased. "I'm sure he'll wake up for th-AAHHHH!"

Sola had used Thunder on him before he could even finish his claim.

"Good to see that nothing's changed at all…" Kojo remarked, having come back fifteen minutes ago. "Still arguing and insinuating bullshit like little kids..."

"Sh-Shut it, Kojo…" Farra stated, shivering.

Soon enough, Egridos emerged with the crate he found. Seeing the large wooden box in his arms left everyone stupefied.

"Whoa… what's that?" Carson queried in wonder as he shook off icicles that were beginning to form under his arms.

"It's a box, obviously," Egridos replied, giving the bell a look. "I think what's _inside_ of the box is what matters…"

Placing the box down, Egridos used Shadow Ball on it, shattering the wood, sending it everywhere. This box held a first aid kit, a few electric blankets, a generator, and two boxes of bagels.

"Food, electricity, and blankets? Nice!" Morgan said, getting close to the supplies.

"Apparently when the idiots said survive with what's on the island, they neglected to mention crates," Egridos explained. "I feel like there are other crates around here with more stuff. And I think the other team got one already…"

"How do you know?" Amethyst asked.

"Because I saw what they've got and… compared to them, we suck. Bad," Egridos replied. "Like… Angela Ass-lyn level of suck…"

"Why did you just mention a pornstar?" Kojo queried tonelessly.

"Why do you know she's a pornstar?" Egridos retaliated.

"I met her at a convention in Mauville…" Kojo responded in his same tone. "She tried to get my number…"

"Okay can we stay on topic, please?" Shine interrupted before turning back to Egridos. "So, what does the other team have exactly?"

"Well, they have an entire fucking dome shelter with wooden floors, berries, _three_ fires, and blankets!"

"What the hell!?" Taylor exclaimed. "Meanwhile, we don't have jackshit except for this stuff!?"

"We'd have a fire if that stupid bitch stops sulking and help the fucking team!" Farra exclaimed.

"FARRA! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Frosty exclaimed.

"Neither are you…" Farra replied.

"Can we just not?" Sola groaned, still trying to get Sparky up. "We're supposed to be surviving together as a team and all that's happening is meaningless arguments over petty subjects!"

"Okay, we'll stop this as soon as _she_ gets the fuck up and makes us a simple fire!" Taylor explained, growing agitated himself as he pointed to Vixen with his tail.

"Alright alright, simmer down," Egridos said, opening the box and picking up one of the bagels. "I think we have an easy way to take care of this issue…"

"Just have Carson use Sunny Day..." Amethyst spoke up, making everyone stop and turn to her, Carson, Holly, and Ashton.

"Uh… that wasn't what I was going to suggest, but I'll be damned if we've been sitting in the fucking cold and that nimrod knew a move that could keep us fucking warm!" Egridos exclaimed, glowering at the Bronze Bell Pokemon.

Carson chuckled sheepishly before turning around and floating behind Ashton. He floated upside down before firing a ball of fire into the air. It burst, causing harsh sunlight to beam down over their area of the frigid island.

"Carson, I swear you would have been dead meat…" Taylor growled.

"Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't think properly amongst everyone's anger and insanity!" Carson retorted.

"Okay, well at least we can calm down now," Ashton sighed.

"As I was saying…" Egridos said, chewing on his bagel. "I think we have an easy way to take care of this issue…"

Morgan sighed in annoyance. She didn't want to entertain his possible idiocy. That seemed to be the same idea as the others, as they held looks of disdain on their faces as well.

"...so no one's gonna ask?" Egridos queried.

"Just tell us…" Ace said exasperatedly.

Egridos rolled his eyes. "I say… that sometime tonight, we go and trash their site. Steal their stuff, destroy that dome, and get rid of their fire. That way, they'll be too weak and cold to move and we'll win this challenge easily."

"So… sabotage?" Taylor asked, gaining a smirk. "I like what I'm hearing…"

"Well, I don't…" Morgan spoke up, glaring at the Cofagrigus. "What reason do we have to cheat? We have heat, electricity, covers, and food now. What would be the point? Especially since their team is just one player larger than ours."

"Uh, how the hell is that cheating?" Farra queried as the ice around her began to thaw under the harsh sunlight. "The task is to survive. That's it. There was no mention of cheating repercussions, therefore it doesn't matter."

"Farra, we don't need to-"

"We're _not_ sabotaging the other team," Shine said. "It wouldn't do us any real good anyway…"

"How would it not? Explain, bitch…" Taylor said, glaring at her.

"Huh, let's see…" Shine started, looking up in faux thoughtfulness. "Apparently they have created a dome of their own. If we destroy it… OH NO! They can make _another_ one. Wood floors? There are _trees_ all around us. Berries and blankets? _We have food and warmth, too_. And three fires? Maybe if _you_ knew Will-O-Wisp or _anyone else_ here other than Vixen knew a direct fire-type move, we wouldn't be in that situation!"

"How do you know that they can make another dome? You don't know what it looks like…" Farra retorted. "For all we know, they could have gotten supplies for it from a crate."

"... Egridos, what did the dome look like?" Shine asked with a no-nonsense expression.

"Stringy and yellow…"

"And did it look… sticky or glossy in any way?" Shine continued.

Egridos didn't want to respond, doing so would make her right, and he hated that. Seeing his hesitance to answer, Shine knew she had him in a corner.

"Exactly my point…" the Espeon remarked, scratching behind her ears.

"Huh, I guess fucking a flea-bitten killer's got you scratching…" Farra commented, seeing her perform the action. "Should we even be listening to someone who spends most of her life in the arms of a loser who needs to be in prison?"

Sick of the Girafarig's lip, Shine rose a brow and looked up up and down. "Well, maybe you should focus on getting dicked down yourself before commenting on my love life in a negative fashion… and FYI, he _has_ gone to jail before, but we were able to bail him out easily since we're both working good jobs _and_ we get the royalty checks..."

"You don't have to be a Michelin chef to know when something tastes bad, so I can say whatever I want…" Farra retorted, though in the back of her head, she wanted to pummel the Espeon for saying that.

"Opinions are a wonder, sweetie," Shine replied, rolling her eyes. "Therefore, what you say quite literally means nothing."

"Then the same applies to you, too, idiot…"

"I'm aware, which is why I'm not gonna go further and waste my time," Shine finished. "We're not sabotaging the other team…"

"Hmph... We'll see…" Farra muttered to herself.

Frosty groaned in annoyance. He was doing a piss-poor job at keeping Farra in check; he didn't know what to do. He wasn't her keeper, nor was he her family, well, at least not literally. " _What am I going to do? She keeps antagonizing people and won't listen to reason!"_

"Well, I'm gonna go take a walk," Ace announced as he started walking away. "I think I need some time away from complete and utter idiocy and chaos…"

Hearing that, Frosty gained an idea of his own. Maybe taking a walk would calm Farra's nerves, too.

"Y'know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Frosty commented. He turned to Farra. "Farra, what do you say?"

Farra huffed and started walking away without saying a word. The others watched her leave, not particularly bothered. Frosty sighed and started floating after her.

"Don't be gone for _too_ long, guys…" Morgan commented.

"UP YOURS!"

"FARRA!"

"You know what… a walk doesn't sound like a bad idea. Being away from you all _did_ help me regain a few brain cells, so… bye," Egridos said, floating away.

"Well, that's two annoyances gone," Kojo remarked, his arms folded.

Sparky slowly regained consciousness, getting on his feet. He wobbled a bit, his head pounding from Farra slamming him into a tree numerous times. He was dazed, but he was up, and upon opening his eyes, a glare appeared on his face.

His father appeared right behind him again.

" _There you go… let your anger guide you"_ , he said with a grim smirk. " _This worthless excuse of a game is nothing but child's play. All you have to do is turn everyone against someone… and the person should be very obvious…"_

Sparky slowly turned his head toward Vixen, who was still lying in the, now melting, snow. A smirk appeared on his face.

" _That's right… that sexy bitch is ripe for the pickings…"_ Lux stated. " _And, you and her already have controversy, so it'll be a cinch. And as for that giraffe bitch…"_

Sparky's sneer immediately faded before he clawed the ground. _"That bitch is going to pay. And she's going to pay in blood…_ "

Sparky chortled grimly.

"Hey… you feeling okay, Sparky?" Sola queried, placing a paw on his shoulder. Lux immediately vanished.

The Gleam Eyes Pokemon looked at her paw before looking at her with a fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, his voice sounding hoarse. "My head is just… pounding away right now…"

"Well, given that you were slammed into a tree, that should be the case…" Holly said.

"So, what do we do now?" Kojo queried. "Just sit here?"

"Hell, there's nothing _to_ do unless we want to play with melting snow…" Taylor spoke up. "We might as well just leave and come back later."

"We have no clock," said Sally. "How the hell would we know when to come back?"

"Well, considering that they said two days… and it's officially _afternoon_ after twelve, we can just make sure everyone comes back before noon tomorrow. I don't think where we go should matter," Taylor replied. "They didn't say we couldn't split up…"

"Why the fuck would we split up if we're supposed to survive _together?!_ "

"Plus, it's warm here, now, thanks to Carson! Why would we go back into the cold?" Ashton queried.

"Hey, you bitches can stick around if you want, but I'm not going to sit around doing nothing…." Taylor replied as he started slithering away, leaving Connor alone with the others.

The Bouffalant sighed in relief.

 **000**

Frosty and Farra were walking through the snowy forest, with Frosty having a look of annoyance on his face. He needed to talk to her and try to get her to stop talking down to everyone else. "Farra, I don't get why you're being so nasty towards everyone…"

"It should be none of your concern," Farra replied. "As long as we make it further in this shitty game, it'll be fine."

"Well, it _is_ my concern because I'm the one who's watching over you while you're treating others like shit!"

"Frosty, those fuckers deserve it!" Farra exclaimed. "Notice how every season after the first one, the same problems arise and they mope around, practically begging to get sympathy! It's either a cheating scandal or one of them loses his fucking mind. It's annoying!"

"And did you have to yell at, argue with, and harm them, furthering the problem?!" Frosty responded. "Seriously, they may end up voting _you_ out because of how you've been acting around everyone!"

"If they do that, it just puts bigger targets on their backs if they make it to the merge," Farra responded. "Their strength is in numbers, not intellect, so they can ride that shit until the wheels fall off for all I care. All I know is that they're not going to win anything…"

"So, what? You've just been harboring this hatred this entire time?" Frosty queried, still perplexed at why she was suddenly so passionate in her hatred of Vixen and the others.

"No, it started getting annoying in the third season, then the season before last where Shade and Demenio were both pretty much out of their fucking minds, but still ended up making it to the merge somehow. Now this season arises and the Sparky and Vixen bullshit from third season pops up again, along with the shit from the second season," Farra explained. "I'm just done with them as a whole. The sooner they're gone, the sooner I'll feel better."

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that Striker got eliminated early?"

Farra growled at him. "Shut… up…"

She continued walking forward, giving him his answer. "Okay, I'll take that as a strong yes…"

 **000**

A majority of the Ho-Ohs were rusting under the dome. With Summer now being in the vicinity, they were able to have a fire pit, which allowed the three fires they had to keep them toasty.

"Arceus, this is great," Anthony commented with a yawn, lying on his back as he drew one of the blankets over himself and stared through the holes of the web-based dome. "Now we just have to sit here until tomorrow afternoon or evening…"

"I wish we had a fucking clock…" Sabrina commented. "I'd love to know how long we have to sit in boredom…"

"Well, the sun's partially out, we woke up not that long ago, so… I say that it's around eleven or noon…" Fez commented.

"I didn't ask you, now did I?"

Fez rolled his eyes.

"Well," Dhaunt said as he stood up. "I'm gonna go make a snowman. Anyone who wants to join me is free to…"

"We're not five…" Aura commented.

"Hell, doing _something_ is better than nothing…" Phill said as he followed Dhaunt out of the dome.

"Well, keep it down," Marie commented as she proceeded to lie down next to Anthony. "I'm gonna try and get some more sleep."

"You haven't even done anything," the Shellfish Pokemon chuckled as he continued lying down.

"And neither have you, so shut your trap," the Feraligatr snapped back as she turned on her side.

Anthony rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile a bit. He couldn't help but mess with her; she made it too easy, and seeing her angry made him smile and gain interest. He lied on his own side and smirked.

Suddenly, Dhaunt and Phill entered the dome once again, blocking the entrance with the wooden 'door'. Both of them had worried expressions on their faces, which made the others a bit suspicious.

"Back so soon, boys?" Marion queried.

"Uh, we have a bit of an issue…" Dhaunt said in a rather panicked fashion, pointing his thumb outside.

Moving the wooden door to the side, it was revealed that not one, but _two_ Avalugg, as well as a bruised Beartic, were standing outside of the door with furious expressions. Phill and Dhaunt moved the door back into position before hopping back to the group.

Klavier blanched. "I-Is that the same Beartic?!"

"I think so…" Phill commented. "And apparently it has Avalugg friends…"

"Wait, can someone explain what the hell is going on right now?!" Marie asked, sitting up.

"Well," Summer started. "Klavier and Phill decided to try and get some food from a Beartic. They knocked it out, figured out that it was a mother feeding its kids, and ended up leaving it there…"

The others immediately glowered at the Mouse and Fang Scorpion Pokemon, who gained sheepish expressions.

Roars could be heard from outside, as if daring the two of them to come out. Peeking out through a few holes, Titan acknowledged something. "Well, they don't seem to be wantin' to attack so quick-like."

"They probably want dumb and dumber to go out there and take their lumps," Aura giggled.

Aspen rolled her eyes. When the situation calmed down, she was going to try to talk some sense into her again, but if it didn't work, it'd be _her_ funeral.

"There's no way in the Distortion World that I'm going out there!" Klavier exclaimed.

"Same here…" Phill replied.

"Either you two get out there _willingly_ , or we toss you out," Pia commented, folding her arms. "We're not gonna risk everything here just because you guys screwed up."

"Well, we're a team, so you're just gonna have to deal with it…" Phill retorted.

 **-000-**

Phill was thrown out of the dome, followed by Klavier, who landed on top of him. Both guys groaned in pain. Phill lifted his face up, shaking off the snow that was on it. "Klavier?"

"Yeah…" the Fang Scorpion Pokemon groaned.

"Can you get off of me?"

Klavier rose up, standing on his tail, allowing Phill to sit up and shake snow from his fur. He and Klavier stood face-to-face with the Beartic, who folded her arms with a growl.

Klavier swallowed in fear. "Uh… h-hi?" he greeted.

The Beartic pointed forward with a roar, which both Avalugg took note of. Both iceberg beasts growled and stepped forward before firing Ice Beams at the two of them. The two of them were frozen solid. The Beartic picked up them and tossed them onto each of the Avalugg's backs. The three of them then retreated back in the direction of the Beartic's cave.

Seeing them take them away, the others were a bit skeptical.

"Okay, this is bad. We need to get them back," Annie commented. "Our whole team needs to be here!"

Brian scoffed. "If those imbeciles causing damage to the bear brought out a mob boss quality in it, what makes you believe that hindering it will cause us anything but harm?"

"He's right," Pia said. "If we're not careful, those three could come back and destroy everything!"

"There's like eighteen of us on the team, and Summer has some pretty good fire-type moves…" Cramad spoke up. "I'm pretty sure we'll be able to take on three ice-types if they try to come back…"

"Well, why doesn't someone go and retrieve our idiots so that we can try and wait out the rest of this shitty challenge?" Aura queried, rubbing her head.

"You know what Aura, why don't _you_ be the one to do that?" Freezeo inquired. "You don't do anything but talk shit, so why don't you actually prove yourself worthy of still being in the game?"

"Why should I?" the Fresh Snow Pokemon replied, raising a brow. "I mean, all of you have pretty much made it up in your minds that I'm useless and I don't deserve anything because of what I did in the past. Even though _worse_ things have happened in this shitty game of life we signed up for."

"Look Aura, we gave you a clean fucking slate, but guess what? You fucked it up. All you've done is berate Shine, offer no insight or real help whatsoever, and just act like a bitch!" Marie exclaimed. "So, we're not 'treating you poor' because of shit that happened over twenty years ago, We're treating you poor because you suck as a teammate!"

Aura rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Ugh… screw it, I'll deal with it myself," Summer said as she crawled out of the dome and cracked her knuckles before following the ice-types…"

"Uh… should someone go with her?"

"Eh, why not," Fez said as he walked to the exit of the dome. "Not like I have anything better to do…" Once out, he took flight after the badger.

Sabrina's talons scratched at the wooden floor before she flew out behind him. " _I don't know what this punk bastard thinks he's doing, but he's just going to end up screwing over everything…_ " she thought pessimistically as she followed the two of them.

 **000**

Ace walked around the snowy island, his paws becoming buried in the snow with every step that he took. He still couldn't believe that he was back in this game, and this was the tenth challenge now! He felt like he wasn't here for any reason other than, in Victini's opinion, he sucked.

That couldn't be more wrong. He was strong in his own right and wanted to get stronger. In Parafrosyni, he was unsure about how to feel, what to do, and whether or not being there was a good idea. As soon as he and Chase got together, he felt a bit better about his confidence, and once both of them were eliminated, he was welcomed to his family. Which was mainly his father, stepfather, and Aura.

He actually felt welcome. Wanted. Like he belonged. For the first time in years, he had parental figures that actually cared for him, excluding Aura.

He growled just thinking about the the shiny Glaceon. He hated her with a passion. No matter what he did, he was always a piece of shit who deserved nothing and was a disgrace. It wasn't even a 'no one is taking my son from me' kind of deal. She was just purely venomous for the sake of it.

There have many times where she kicked him out of her house just for _kissing_ Chase. Then, the Flareon would sneak him back in through his window, since he had no place to really go. Chase would have to apologize relentlessly and comfort him every time it happened.

Ace, having not been looking where he was going, looked around and found himself in front of a large, empty cavern. He rose a brow before entering, hoping that the cavern was warm.

Going inside, he immediately gaped in amazement at what he saw. The entire inside of the cave was smooth, and had intricate, swirling designs. "Wow…" he said, looking around inside. "This is gorgeous…"

The inside of the cavern was as cold as the outside, which prompted him to leave as soon as possible. As much as he'd like to explore, there was high chance that he could get lost. With a sigh, he started heading back out. Stepping back out, Ace found his eyes widening; there was an Abomasnow and two Glalie staring directly at him, as if they already knew that he was there.

"Uh… is there a-"

Before he could even finish, both Glalie blasted an Ice Beam in his direction. He leapt out of the way of danger before heading into the trees. The three Pokemon didn't chase him, instead, they went into the cavern.

Ace panted heavily, looking back as he ran to get away from his attackers. Once again, not looking where he was going, he bumped into something slippery, or rather _someone_ slippery. Shaking his head, he saw that it was Taylor, who was glowering down at him.

"Oh, it's you…" he muttered.

"Yeah, just me…" Taylor retorted. "Why the hell were you running?"

"Well, if you must know, I just got attacked by fucking Glalie!" Ace explained, sitting down. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Taylor gave him a look. He didn't want to talk about what he was dealing with, but given that this was Ace, who would be better? He sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this… I think… I _am_ gay…"

Ace just blinked in response. "It took you that long to realize this? The fact that you fucked both Rex and Chlotz last season, both of us weren't affected by Macey's device, and your effeminate tone and general behavior did play a part in this at all?"

"Can you not?" Taylor replied. "I'm trying to actually talk to you in a civilized manner."

Ace sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine. So, what's the problem? Are you homophobic? Do you like girls, too?"

"No… I just… I think, I'm getting a crush on that stupid Bouffalant…"

"Connor?" Ace queried. "Well, I mean, he's cute in a lost puppy kind of way, but… Connor?"

"I don't know, but it just feels so fucking sudden. Ever since the last challenge, I've been teasing the loser unconsciously, thinking about him dominating me, I kissed his fucking cheek! And I had a fucking wet dream about the bastard last night!"

"Wow, what the hell did he do to you?" Ace queried, finding all of this amusing.

Taylor growled, a blush appearing on his face. "He didn't even do much. He just… took charge of me while in the last challenge. I tried to make him go into a room with chains and hooks, he tackled me, looked me in the eyes and just ordered me to go in myself…"

"That's i-" Ace started before realizing. "Ooh, I see… he's starting to be confident and stand up for himself, and you find that attractive in a guy. You like being submissive..."

Taylor groaned, a blush still on his face.

"And, since Connor's trying to do better for himself, _and_ Bouffalant and Tauros usually have thirty-six inches of meat, if he's into you… you'll be having the time of your life…" Ace chuckled. "But, if he doesn't, things will just be awkward for you two…"

Taylor just stared into space, having heard nothing after thirty-six inches of meat. His face grew redder, the thoughts of what he'd do with that racing in his mind.

Seeing his dazed look, Ace sighed. "Taylor, TAYLOR!"

The Milotic snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at Ace.

"Now, while I know that the image you have in your head right now is very tempting, you can't force anything," Ace replied. "That's not how a stable relationship works. It's not all about sex; it's not about _you_ always being right; it's about communication, loyalty, love, and having fun."

Taylor gave him a look. He never had a real relationship before; all of his 'partners' were just fuck buddies that he manipulated, but he still knew what an actual relationship consisted of. "I already that wimp isn't going to want a relationship with me, so I don't see this being useful. I know what a relationship is, but with a lack of other twinks or half-and-halfs, I'm just gonna end up being alone…"

"Well, I mean, don't you still have Rex?"

"Yeah, but he's just more of a cock call…" Taylor replied. "It's nothing serious. And the fucked up thing is that this is literally my first time feeling this way! And it's toward a straight, weak loser whose balls are just now starting to drop!"

Taylor collapsed, lying his body in the cold snow. Ace was surprised to see this side of Taylor come out; it was weird. He never thought that the jerky tranny from his debut season would become a confused mess over the course of a couple of years. He used one of his ribbons to rub the Milotic's head in sympathy.

 **000**

" **I never knew that Taylor had a confused side. I mean,** _ **everyone**_ **already knew he was gay, but talking to him about it is… much weirder than I anticipated," Ace commented. "He may… actually be a capable, civil person under all of his bullshit…"**

 **000**

With only three guys around, two of them being taken, and the other just being Connor, the remaining girls decided to talk about their love lives or lack thereof out of boredom. Vixen just decided to be a spectator; her love life and personal business was probably known around every region by now, anyway.

"So, Holly, you're the only single lady here right now…" Morgan started. "Have you set your sights on any guy yet? Or are you still waiting?"

Holly blushed. "Well, actually I'm in the _process_ of not being single…" she replied.

Hearing that, a few of the guys grew intrigued, excluding Ashton and Amethyst, who already knew.

"Oh really? Who's the lucky guy?" Sally queried. "He's not one of those idiotic 'bad boys' is he?"

"What?" Holly giggled. "No, no… it's just… _Klavier_ …"

"Klavier?" Sola queried. "Wow, I have to say, I'm a bit surprised. I thought he was still obsessed with Sabrina…"

"He's actually stopped bothering her…" Holly replied. "We haven't had much of a chance to talk further lately, but hopefully after this challenge we'll be able to…"

"Well, hopefully you guys are able to stick together," said Morgan.

"So, how's Hex and your daughter doing?" Sola inquired, turning to Morgan.

The Persian giggled. "Well, Alexa's a complete daddy's girl, but I make sure that Hex doesn't spoil her too much…"

"Aww… so cute," Shine replied.

"Yeah," Morgan responded. "My and Hex's relationship gets stronger and stronger the more we do together…"

"Yeah, D always takes me out on the weekends," Sola replied. "And his crazy side hasn't come out since…"

Shine giggled. "Same here for the most part. Like I was trying to explain to Farra, outside of the game, Shade is amazing. This stupid game just brings out the worst in him."

"I can attest to that…" Sola spoke up again. "He's a lot happier and smiles a _lot_ more out of this game."

"I can only imagine…" Sally commented.

"How're things going with Jet, Sally? He still a silent type?" Morgan brought up.

"Well, other than the fact that he is now terrified of bicycles and motorcycles alike, we're okay," Sally replied. "There's not much to say. We just relax at home most of the time. Sometimes I cook, sometimes he cooks, sometimes we go out…"

"Anything else?" Ashton giggled. "Because it just sounds like food is a major part of you guys' life…"

"Okay, I'm just confused over all…" Carson spoke up, as he, Kojo, and Connor had just been sitting nearby, listening. "Wasn't there a bit of hostility between most of you earlier? How come you're all so much calmer now?"

"Hostility?" Morgan queried, unsure about what he meant.

"I mean, weren't you guys mad about what Farra, Taylor, and Egridos were saying, and about what Sally said about Vixen?"

"The three of them aren't here, and the thing with Sally is fine now…" Shine explained.

"Once certain people are out of the equation, you'll find that situations diffuse easier," Sola explained. "It's not that hard to understand…"

Carson remained silent.

Rustling was heard from the bushes, causing everyone to turn their heads. Ace and Taylor emerged from the bushes, the latter holding a rather sad expression.

"Well, that was a pretty fast walk…" Morgan remarked.

"Yeah, uh… I experienced some difficulties on my walk…" Ace replied. "And I literally ended up running into him…"

"Uh huh…" Shine replied.

"Connor. We uh… we need to talk," Taylor stated.

Connor didn't want to talk, at least not to Taylor. He was growing tired of his company in this fashion. They were in an alliance, yes, but that didn't mean that they always had to talk outside of the challenge.

"No thanks…"

"Connor. We _need_ to talk…" Taylor replied in a sterner tone. "Please…"

The others were surprised to hear him use this tone and say please. Connor was a bit confused, but he let out a sigh. "Fine…"

Taylor slithered into a different part of the forest, with Connor following him. Seeing them leave, all eyes went on Ace, who padded forward and sat in the cold snow next to Shine.

"Uh… what happened there?" Sally queried. "Why is he acting… weird?"

"Well, let's just say he's having a bit of a self-reflection at the moment…" Ace explained vaguely with a small smile.

The girls looked at him in confusion.

 **-000-**

"W-Wait, you mean…"

"Yes… I like you, alright?" Taylor replied, a blush covering a majority of his face. "I don't know why other than the fact that you yelled at me and made me do the challenge myself."

"So, so… you like me because I made you do your own work?" Connor queried, backing up a bit.

Taylor groaned. "Look, it sounds stupid, but yes, apparently that _is_ the case. And I already know that you harbor no feelings toward me at all, so just… let it go. I said what I needed to say, so now we're back to normal…"

"Wait, wh-"

Taylor slithered away, leaving the Bouffalant there, unsure of what to make of their situation.

 **000**

" **I'm so confused!" Connor exclaimed.**

 **000**

Summer, Fez, and Sabrina followed the Beartic and Avalugg back to the cave. Ducking behind some bushes for a moment, they saw that Klavier and Phill were being placed as statues on the outside of the cave.

The Avalugg began to leave after dropping both of them off, with the Beartic waving them goodbye. SHe looked at both statues, folding her arms with a smile, before walking into the cave.

"Ok, so those two are just being used for decoration… interesting," Sabrina stated.

"Well, it won't be interesting if we end up losing a challenge because of it," Fez replied. "We need to hurry up and get them back…"

"Yeah, but we need to be careful," Summer replied, peering through the bushes. "We may have an advantage, but we don't want to deal with the Beartic coming back with a bigger gang. They may fuck up our entire base…"

"Let's just get these morons and get back to the dome," Sabrina replied, shivering a bit. "If the Beartic bitch comes out, just blast her. Then, thaw them out."

"And then we get hunted down and demolished," Fez replied. "Good thinking…"

"Okay, screw it," Summer said, standing up and walking toward the cave. The Typhlosion used Flamethrower, gently melting the ice around Phill, first.

The sound of the attack got the attention of the Beartic, who was eating a few berries with her cubs. She saw steam emerging from one side of her cave entrance and growled.

Phill was halfway out of the ice, shivering like mad. "M-mother of A-Arceus, I h-hate my l-life…"

Sabrina emerged from the bushes. One of her feet glowed a bright white before being thrusted down, shattering the remainder of the ice surrounding the Mouse Pokemon.

Phill shivered uncontrollably; Sabrina only rolled her eyes. The Beartic emerged from the cave, using Ice Beam immediately. Summer punched it and tossed it back into the cave before using a high intensity Flamethrower on Klavier.

The Fang Scorpion Pokemon, upon being thawed out, breathed out a puff of smoke before collapsing into the snow.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Sabrina exclaimed as she flew over to him.

Summer watched the Beartic get to her feet, prompting her to use Flamethrower on it again. "Get him up! We need to go!"

Sabrina smacked the Gliscor across the face, helping him regain his consciousness. "Huh, what happened?!"

"We need to go! Come on!" Fez said, finally emerging from the bushes.

"You decided to come and yet you did nothing, huh?" Sabrina queried. "Typical…"

"And typical of you to say that…" Fez said as he started flying away, with Phill shakily getting onto his back.

Summer sprinted off, with Sabrina and Klavier following suit. As they flew back, Sabrina eyed the Gliscor with a bit of interest. She was growing annoyed with Fez's attitude and was concocting a plan to make him feel awful.

 **000**

" **Klavier used to be obsessed with me after I got with Gary, and he** _ **hated**_ **it," Sabrina stated. "Maybe if I started messing around with Klavier, falsely, he'll start feeling heartbroken. I'm tired of his uppity attitude!"**

 **000**

Egridos was watching over the Ho-Ohs as they sat around in their dome. Despite what the others on his team said, he felt that sabotage was necessary if they were going to win this challenge. With the number of skillful people on their team, they needed to be knocked down a couple of pegs.

He just needed an opening.

 **000**

Farra and Frosty returned to the Lugias after a while, the former still sporting an annoyed expression and the latter looking very tired and banged up.

"So, uh... how'd the walk go?" Kojo queried, seeing Frosty's condition.

Frosty panted as he turned to the Mienshao. "Awful! I got attacked by a Snover, two Weavile, and a Bergmite!"

"But… aren't you an ice-type, yourself?" Taylor queried, raising a brow. "Are you seriously _that_ weak?!"

"You realize that we're all able to learn more than just moves of our own type, right?" Frosty retorted, to which Taylor rolled his eyes.

"Well, I got attacked by two Glalie and an Abomasnow, so join the club," Ace commented. "And I found a pretty cool little place that reminded me of a part of Parafrosyni."

Taylor rose a brow upon hearing that. "Oh really? And what was that?"

"That marble part of the cave that you and the girls ended up finding when we had to go into that huge pit in the ground," Ace explained, which made Taylor's eyes widen a bit.

"Huh. Yeah, that _is_ a bit of a throwback…" Taylor giggled a bit.

The others still didn't understand the Milotic's sudden change in attitude; it was just so sudden. He goes out for a 'walk' in the forest and all of a sudden he's not being that much of a jackass anymore? Something was definitely up.

"So, uh… Taylor," Morgan started, being the most suspicious. She had a feeling that this was a ruse. "Ace told us that you went through a bit of self-reflection. What happened to bring that up, exactly?"

Hearing that, Taylor gave the Sylveon a look of annoyance. "I plead the fifth…" he replied with a huff.

"He's in love with me," Connor drawled, lying in the snow.

Immediately, Taylor growled at the Bouffalant as his face flushed a deep crimson. Everyone's eyes were wide, with the exception of Ace and Connor.

"Well, uh…" Morgan cleared her throat. "That's certainly new."

No one else could really say anything, it was just completely dumbfounding. Taylor… had a crush… on Connor? How the hell did that even happen?

"Okay, I'm confused," Farra started. "You were preaching this entire time that you're not gay, even though it was completely obvious. And now, because you figured out that you like Connor, you feel like admitting it now?"

"I'd prefer if we didn't make this such a big fucking deal since a good majority of you called my bluff anyway," Taylor replied. "So, how about we find something else to do?"

"Like what?" Sally queried. "There's quite literally nothing to do around here unless we just want to play in the snow…"

"Well, we _could_ walk around, but then there's the issue of possibly running into other Pokemon that will likely attack us without warning," Ashton spoke up.

"There's more of us," Sola replied with a shrug. "I'm sure we'll be fine if we all go on a walk together around here. Maybe we'll find another crate. We _are_ kinda running out of bagels…"

"They sucked anyway," Farra replied. "And Frosty and I just got back from a walk. What makes you think that we'd want to go on another one?"

"Then you're free to stay here and wallow in your pessimism," Shine replied.

"Wait, why don't we all just stay around for awhile and just… play some games?" Carson inquired. "I mean, the team has had a bunch of arguments and issues, so maybe we should just calm ourselves down…"

"Well, while not necessarily a bad idea… what game would we play?" Frosty queried.

"And while we're at it, can you use Sunny Day again? It's starting to get freezing around here, again…" Taylor added.

"Well, I was thinking Truth or Dare…" Carson replied.

"Hey, the game that got me eliminated in the first season," Frosty recalled, not sounding upset. "Nice…"

"I'm sorry, but we're not teenagers anymore," Sparky spoke up. "Plus, with the bullshit that's been going on, I don't think that kind of game will be good for anybody."

"I still don't get why you guys constantly bring up past bad stuff and act like you can't function in the present because of it…" Carson said in befuddlement.

Hearing that, everyone exchanged looks with each other for a few moments before focusing back on Carson. "So, can we just do Truth or Dare for a bit of fun? No overly sexual dares and no deep, dark truths…"

"But, Carson, how would anyone win?" Amethyst asked. "We're all capable of lying…"

"If someone lies, that's just them," Carson replied. "It just means that they're insecure about their own self image…"

"And who are you to judge that?" Farra asked with a glare.

"My opinion," Carson replied simply. "So, are you guys up for it?"

"Count me out…" Farra replied, turning away with a huff.

"Yeah, I-I'd rather not take part in this…" Amethyst said, lying against Ashton's side.

Vixen didn't respond, but she rose up and walked away from the group before lying down in a different area nearby.

Seeing and hearing those three refute, Carson looked around for any others. "Anyone else?"

No one said anything, signaling that he could start the game. "Alright, uh… Connor, truth or dare?"

 **000**

Upon making it back to the dome, Phill immediately dove in front of the fire. "Fresh heat! Man, this feels good," he chuckled erratically as he placed in hands in front of the flames before rubbing his heated palms on his face.

"Jeez mate, calm down," Titan chortled. "The fire's not goin' anywhere…"

Fez entered the dome seconds later, and upon seeing what Phill was doing, shook his head. "Arch your back a little more, then you'll be firebending…"

"Okay, not only did that sound gay, that was an awful joke," Anthony remarked, folding his arms.

"I was making a joke?" Fez retorted, raising a brow.

Anthony was going to reply, but he wasn't about to waste his breath over a bait. Instead, he sat in silence, making Marie giggle mockingly at him. Anthony rose a brow at her, immediately making her clear her throat and stop.

A smirk appeared on Anthony's face, seeing her stop quickly. A few moments later, Summer, Sabrina, and Klavier entered the dome again, with Summer collapsing on her back near the rear end of the dome.

"Arceus, I don't even know why I decided to run," she panted. "I'm a fire-type. I could have taken them if they were chasing me…"

"Hey, survival instincts kicked in. Can't really blame you," Sabrina replied with a shrug as Klavier lied down next to their fire, holding his head. She chuckled to herself before looking up and around the circumference of the dome. She noticed that some of the threads looked a bit bent and other links were broken due to snowfall from the trees they were around.

"Hey, Titan. You gonna fix the threads?" she queried. "We don't know how often it actually snows around here or even if blizzards are common. Shouldn't we like… stabilize this place a bit more?"

Looking around, Titan saw that the dome _was_ experiencing a few issues at the moment. And, if it _did_ snow during the night, the gaps in the dome would cause snow to get in and effectively break the dome overall.

"Hmm… you're right," he replied. "Do we still have some left over wood?"

"We only have like… three pieces left," Annie replied, gesturing to the few remaining pieces of wood. "Why? We just need to strengthen the threads-"

Well, my thread is sticky, and Sabrina makes a good point," Titan explained. "So, I think we should use wood to cover the outside and keep us even warmer."

"That sounds good, but unless we want to strip the floor and sleep on the cold ground, we don't have enough…" Dhaunt replied.

"Then I guess we'll have to look for another crate…" Fez spoke up. "There should be a few more around if there was one…"

"Well, then make yourself useful and go find them," Sabrina replied with a glare.

"I would, but there's the possibility of you following me again…" Fez replied. "And having you down my throat talking shit to me doesn't seem desirable…"

"I mean, some guys are into that kinda shit, so-"

Marie smacked the Blastoise's chest with a glare; Anthony rolled his eyes.

"Oh don't worry, I won't be behind you this time," Sabrina replied. "That way, when you fuck up, it'll just be your own fault…"

"Really? Thanks salty cock-sleeve!" Fez replied sarcastically.

"WHAT!?" Sabrina snapped, as a few of the girls' eyes widened.

"What do you mean, what? You can talk shit to me, but I can't say anything back?" Fez retorted. "As if…"

He started walking out of the dome before taking flight. Sabrina's claws sunk into the wood out of complete fury. She had to restrain herself so that she didn't kill him right then and there. She took a breath. "I hate him. I hate him so much…"

"Yeah, I don't have anything against Fez, but that _was_ a bit too far," Lassie explained.

"And the funny thing is… he's literally the size of a toothpick," Sabrina revealed, causing the guys to try their best to stifle their laughs.

Meanwhile, the girls didn't hold back their laughs.

"Wow, all of that big talk from a guy whose dick is shorter than my pendulum," Pia said, taking out her pendulum from her neck fluff.

"Hey, that's usually how things go," Marie giggled before eyeing Anthony from the corner of her eye. "The biggest trash talkers are not well-endowed in the slightest…"

"I saw you looking at me when you said that. You're not slick," Anthony replied. "And I'll have you know that I actually _am_ well-endowed. Not like you'd ever experience it."

Marie scoffed. "Please…"

Anthony's eyes widened a bit upon hearing that, as did Marie's in realization of what she just said.

"Wait, wha-"

"Shut up…" Marie growled with a blush.

Anthony gave her look before rising to his feet. "Come with me…" he stated, looking at Marie with a serious expression.

"What for?"

"Just come…" Anthony requested.

Rolling her eyes, Marie got up and followed him out of the dome. In the back of her mind, she had an idea of what he was about to say, but she convinced herself that he wasn't _that_ dumb.

Once they were out, Klavier smacked his lips. "So, what do we think is gonna happen with them?"

"My money's on that Anthony will get his ass handed to him for saying something stupid," Lassie spoke.

"Sounds logical," Annie nodded in agreement.

 **-000-**

Anthony led the gator toward a different area of the forest. The gator held herself, as frigid air was beginning to blow through the area.

Anthony stopped moving and turned to her, his arms folded. Marie, seeing him do this, growled. "What? Why the hell did you bring us out here?"

Anthony didn't respond, he instead closed his eyes and took a breath. " _Let's see what happens here…_ "

He walked towards her, grabbed her face and locked lips with her. The action was very surprising to Marie, who was confused, but also a bit calm. She didn't know why, but the Shellfish Pokemon had a good tongue on him.

Anthony broke the kiss after a good fifteen seconds, leaving both water-type starters breathless. They looked into each other's eyes for a while, with a blush growing on Marie's face.

She pushed the Blastoise away. "What the hell was that!?"

Anthony shrugged, staring at the ground. "We've been arguing and fighting lately, so I just wanted to see if that bullshit that happens on TV is actually real…"

"Well?" Marie asked, still panting slightly.

Anthony looked up at her. "It is…"

Immediately, Marie took a step forward and brought him close to her, again. "You're a prick for this, you know that, right?"

"Meh, I've been called worse," Anthony chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist and picking her up.

Marie immediately growled. "Put me down. We're not doing this," she stated, glaring at him. "This is just going to be a testing phase. If you keep pissing me off, then this is definitely not happening. I can only handle so much…"

"Hey, the feeling's mutual. Good to know we have an understanding," Anthony replied, glaring back before the two initiated another quick kiss.

"Now seriously, put me down," Marie stated again.

Anthony rolled his eyes. Instead of just dropping her into the snow like he wanted to, he obliged and just placed her down, much to her surprise, as she had braced for an impact. Marie looked at him in surprise, but it went away after a while.

"Let's just head back…" she requested.

Anthony nodded as the two started heading back, no physical contact whatsoever.

 **000**

" **Well, let's see how long it takes for him to screw up," Marie commented. "Though, I have to admit. His tongue game is on point…"**

" **We won't last long, but eh, at least I can** _ **try**_ **to enjoy it for the time being. Who knows, maybe he'll stop being a jackass…"**

 **000**

" **I'll admit, she's got some sexy qualities," Anthony replied. "She just needs to stop being so serious and learn to tone herself down a bit. I'm not gonna change who I am just for her; I'm not stupid. The most I'll do is try not to annoy** _ **her**_ **in specific. I already had to restrain myself from just dropping her in the snow."**

" **Knowing how uptight she can get, this won't last long, but whatever…" he said with a shrug.**

 **000**

"Ace, truth or dare?" Sally queried, a small smile on her face.

The Sylveon thought about it for a while, but eventually decided to do something easy. "Truth…"

"If you could date any guy on the show, other than your current boyfriend, who would he or _they_ be?" she inquired.

Ace blushed before starting to think about it. "Well, I don't know _every_ guy that's competed on this shitty show, but… from the ones I know: Kojo… Cano… hmm… Roscoe was kinda cute… and… maybe Rocky…"

"Well, uh… that's flattering," Kojo chuckled. "Haven't heard a guy say that he'd date me in a while."

"Wait, what? That's happened before?" Taylor chuckled. "Well, to be honest, you're not _that_ bad looking, so I can kinda see it."

"Yeah, I've had about… seventy or so guys come up to me when I was both single _and_ dating and say that if things didn't work with Floatzelle or if I needed a 'booty call', to hit them up," Kojo explained, a blush appearing on his face out of embarrassment.

"Okay, then, Kojo. Truth or dare?" Ace queried, interested in that information.

The Mienshao sighed, having a feeling that this would happen. "I knew I should have kept quiet. Fine… uh… truth."

"Have you ever followed through in one of those 'booty calls'?" Ace queried.

"Didn't the rules say no, deep dark or sexual stuff like this?" Kojo replied, folding his arms.

"So is that a yes?" Morgan chimed in, raising a brow.

"No!" Kojo exclaimed. "I didn't have sex with any of them…"

"You sure? Because you sure brought up the rules quickly…" Frosty chuckled.

"A hundred percent…" Kojo replied in a serious tone.

"Alright, if you say so," Ace replied with a smirk. "Your turn…"

Kojo looked around before settling on the Espeon across from him. "Hmm… Shine. Truth or dare?"

Shine shrugged. "Truth, I suppose."

"Hmm… Do you ever find any other guys more attractive than Shade?" Kojo queried.

Shine blinked, not expecting to be asked that. "Hmm… could you elaborate a bit? Like, attractive in what way?"

"Just… attractive in a general sense," Kojo explained.

Shine shrugged. "Yeah. We both have," she admitted. "He's admitted that some other girls are attractive and I have said the same about some guys..."

"Wow, you say it like it's not a big deal…" Farra said. "I thought couples were supposed to be loyal to only their partner and not find anyone else attractive…"

"I don't know what kind of teenage drama magazine _you've_ been reading, but Shade and I are completely fine," Shine replied. "We're able to admit that we find other people attractive, but that doesn't mean we're less attracted to each other…"

Farra rolled her eyes.

"Hmm… Ashton. Truth or dare?" the Sun Pokemon asked.

"Hmm… I guess I'll break the mold and do a dare," the Meganium responded.

"Okay, kiss Taylor on the cheek…" Shine replied.

"Oh, uh…" Ashton blushed a bit. "Okay?"

"Why am I involved this time?" Taylor queried.

"Oh just take it. It's not that big of a deal," Morgan commented.

Ashton walked over and pecked the Milotic on the cheek. After doing so, she walked back over to her spot.

"Okay, seriously, what's the point of this game?" Farra spoke up. "The dares barely happen and the truths are lackluster as all shit…"

"Farra, why do you insist on just ruining any type of good feeling we have?" Sola asked. "You always bring up past stupid stuff to condemn and go against us or you just talk shit. You're getting as annoying as Aura…"

"Oh-ho now I'm just like Aura?" Farra responded with a glare. "I don't recall fucking someone else's man and getting pregnant."

"I think she means the bitch part, not the slut part…" Sally replied before looking up in the sky.

The sky was turning purple and orange, signifying that it was becoming evening time. The air around them was becoming colder as the sun slowly descended.

"Well, we should probably start getting some sleep…" Holly commented, seeing the sun begin to set.

"What's the point of that? If we get up early, we have to waste more time waiting for the afternoon to come," Farra replied. "We should be able to stay up as long as we want. We're all adults here."

"You say that, yet you're not acting like one," Sparky commented, baring her teeth at her.

Farra glared back at him, unfazed by his attitude. "Keep your mentally handicapped lips shut."

Sparky snarled, much to everyone's surprise. A sneer crept upon Farra's face. "What do you know? I've struck a nerve…"

"Farra, this isn't fucking funny!" Frosty exclaimed.

" _Don't give yourself up so quick, you dumb fuck…_ " the Luxray heard. "Struck a nerve? STRUCK A NERVE?! You fucking slammed me into a tree and now you're calling me mentally handicapped!" he exclaimed.

"Okay Farra, that's enough!" Ashton spoke up. "Jeez, you've done nothing but act like a rotten jerk ever since Striker got eliminated!"

"Exactly!" Holly spoke up. "We understand that he was the apple of your eye, but you can't just-"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Farra interrupted. "You two and your little group have been irrelevant on this team since we started, so I don't think you have the authority to comment on my behavior…"

Frosty used Ice Beam, freezing the Girafarig solid from top to bottom. Once she was completely frozen, Frosty let out a sigh of relief.

"Frosty, what the hell is wrong with your friend?" Sola growled, not wanting to even address her formally.

"She's annoyed with the game, she hates that Striker's gone already, and she hates you guys in particular because you always bring up family drama that should've been handled out of the game…"

"So… she's been acting like a bitch towards us… because we bring 'family drama'?" Shine queried. "Even though, for the most part, this _game_ is what causes the bullshit to happen in the first place?!"

"If that's the case, she should hate everyone who's ever been involved with drama in this damn show!"

"Well, she says that it's just the same thing with you guys every time you're brought back to compete," Frosty explained. "It's either something cheating related or one of the guys loses his mind. Nothing more to you at all."

"Ouch…" Taylor chuckled.

Shine, Sola, and Sparky all glowered at the Milotic in annoyance.

"Well screw her," Sparky stated. "You'd better let her know that if she keeps this us, she's _definitely_ going home…"

Frosty sighed. "Got it…"

"Hey, where's Egridos?" Connor queried, realizing that the coffin hadn't returned that it was nearing nighttime. "He should be back by now…"

"Yeah, he _should…_ " Morgan growled. "I swear if that bastard is doing what I think he is…"

"We'll have yet another candidate for elimination. Good news," Kojo said, folding his arms.

"Carson, use Sunny Day again, the temperature's starting to drop more…" Ace said, getting one of the electric blankets to wrap around himself.

"Wow, I completely forgot that we had this stuff," Frosty said, floating over to the broken box of supplies. "Are there any bagels left?" he asked, opening one of the boxes.

There were nothing but crumbs and a few fallen sesame seeds left inside of the box, making him groan. "Damn it!"

Amethyst's stomach growled, causing her to blush a bit. "Um… maybe we should try to find another crate before the sun completely goes down…"

"I don't wanna die of hypothermia out here just looking for a wooden crate that may not even be here!" Taylor explained.

"Taylor, we're immortal, that won't happen," Sally replied, easing the Milotic's nerves.

"Oh, right…" Taylor replied, rubbing the back of his head with his tail.

"Alright, how about this?" Morgan started. "You guys go and try and find another crate; I'll go find Egridos…"

"Got it," Shine nodded as Morgan sprinted into the forest.

 **000**

" **Why do I care so much that Egridos doesn't sabotage them? Because, knowing who all they have on that team, they won't give a fuck about the explanation and just end up sabotaging** _ **us**_ **later on in the game with more success!"**

" **Seriously, I know this may sound weak, but would you mess with a team that has a Feraligatr, a Blastoise, a Staraptor, a Typhlosion, a Froslass, a Hypno,** _ **and**_ **a Reuniclus, and they each have useful attributes, along with the others on the team?!" Morgan continued. "Yeah, unless you're a full squad of dragon-types or huge guys, I guess the answer would be 'no'..."**

 **000**

Fez was slowly dragging a crate into the vicinity, holding the rope in his talons. "Come on you sonuvabitch…" he said to himself as he continued to tug on the rope, yanking the crate more and more.

Anthony, Titan, and Dhaunt exited the dome to attempt to help him out. Anthony and Dhaunt got behind the crate, while Titan spat out another electrified thread and started tugging on it as well. This extra help allowed the crate to slide closer much faster.

"About time you got back…" Sabrina remarked quickly. "It's almost nighttime!"

Fez didn't feel like he needed to respond to her, especially since it was evident why he took so long. He already knew that the stick she had up her cloaca was only going to go in further and further, no matter what.

"Well, let's see what's in here…" Anthony commented as he attempted to use Hydro Pump to blast the crate. The water sprayed from his cannons immediately froze upon exiting, making his eyes widen.

"Oh for fuck's sake…" he groaned as another breeze blew through the air, making everyone shiver.

Dhaunt immediately retreated back into the dome. Fez, despite feeling extremely cold, flew backwards and used Air Slash, slicing the box.

"What's in there this time?" asked Freezeo.

Titan tossed some of the crate wood out of the way and found that the box held more pieces of wood, much to his relief, as well as a few juice boxes, more blankets, and a box of gummy candy.

"Nice…" Fez commented, landing in the snow.

"Alright, we have more wood, food, something to drink, and more blankets," Titan stated. "This is good."

Spitting out another thread, Titan dragged the supplies into the dome, with Anthony and Fez following him back in.

 **-000-**

Egridos was snoring in his snooping area, using the snow as a blanket, as he didn't really care anyway. After a while, he woke up with a yawn, smacking his lips as he looked around his area.

He realized that it was approaching night time. Looking over at the Ho-Ohs, he noticed that they were getting more things from a crate.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he stated in annoyance. "How the hell am I supposed to be able to sabotage them if-"

"Egridos!" the ghost-type heard, causing him to groan. He _really_ didn't want to deal with her right now.

The Persian, shivering like mad, approached him with a glare. "What the hell are you still doing out here?"

"A better question is: How the hell did you find me?"

"Don't change the subject," Morgan stated, still shivering. "We said that we're not going to sabotage the other team! They'll cream us the next chance that they get! Plus, we have sufficient supplies, ourselves…"

Egridos gave her a look. "Take a look…" he said, gesturing to where he was looking.

"That's not gonna change-"

"Just… do it…"

Morgan growled before stepping forward to peek through the bushes. She saw the structure the Ho-Ohs had maintained, and immediately her eyes widened. " _Alright, now I know that Titan is a useful threat over there as well_ …" she thought to herself.

"Okay, so what's your point?" Morgan queried. "The others are looking for other crates now, too, so it doesn't really matter. Plus, we have to race to some boats in order to even get back to the main island. We have less people, so it may actually be good for us!"

"Sabotaging them leaves them dumbfounded and disoriented!" Egridos exclaimed. "They'll be too cold to do anything! Get that through your thick skull! Jeez, I know the mutt hasn't skull fucked _all_ of the common sense out of your brain…"

Morgan growled, a malicious glint in her eye. Egridos swallowed in actual fear upon seeing this; he knew he messed up. "Um… okay, maybe I took that a bit too far, but you need to fucking-"

Morgan lifted a paw, which was enveloped in a shadowy aura, keeping her same malicious glare. She struck the Cofagrigus, sending him into a tree. The snow on the tree fell onto him.

"And again, I say, we're not sabotaging anyone…" Morgan said sternly as she started pushing the, now unconscious, coffin back toward their side of the island.

 **000**

"Well, it's almost night…" Titan said. "We've made it…"

"It feels like time went by surprisingly fast…" Annie commented, looking through the holes of their web dome.

"And we mostly just sat here doing nothing or creating this place…" Freezeo added. "Today's been pretty boring…"

"Well, we can go out and play in the snow," Dhaunt suggested. "I mean, sure, it's cold, but we have a good enough fire _and_ a fire-type, so…"

"I mean, I'm not _totally_ against it…" Phill said with a chuckle.

"And what would be the point of it?" Sabrina queried.

"Jeez, what the hell is with everyone and points?" Dhaunt queried. "There doesn't always have to be a point! We've been in this shit show of a game for more than twenty years now! And I'd rather actually _try_ to have some fun around here than mope around, talk shit to everyone, and make everything fucking depressing. So, if you guys want to continue wallowing in your self-loathing or loathing of this game… _which isn't even that bad_ … go on ahead. I'm playing outside!"

And with that, the Gengar exited the dome. The other Ho-Ohs exchanged looks with each other, actually letting his words sink in. In a way, he was right, things _were_ getting a bit unnecessarily depressing in the game, but with everything they've gone through and the memories being replayed by snide comments or challenges for shits and giggles, who could blame them.

"Well, I agree with Dhaunt," Phill said, getting up and popping his back. "I don't have any drama or beef with anyone, so I'm free to say this. You guys hold on to the past _waaay_ too much. Hell, everyone does. All of the real bullshit happened when we were still teens, so it's about time we get over ourselves and fucking live without consulting something that happened _waaaay_ before, don't you think?"

Phill followed the Gengar out into the snow, where he was immediately clocked in the face by a snowball. "Hey! You're gonna pay for that!"

"Hmm… a war where the projectiles are made of the environment... how intriguing…" Brian chuckled as he floated out of the dome.

Marion floated after him without saying a word, knowing that they were right.

"Well, I'm willing to ignore past bullshit," Anthony said, raising to his feet. "Not like any of this game has really affected me negatively. One season, bitches!"

Marie huffed. "Ever thought about _why_ you didn't get brought back until now?" she giggled.

"You can ask the same thing about yourself…" Anthony replied with a smirk as he proceeded to walk out of the dome.

"Yeah, speaking of it…" Summer started as she got on her feet. "Marie, weren't you the one who said that the game wasn't the problem? Just the people _playing_ the game?"

"You know what… you're right," said Marie, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "And it still holds true…"

The crocodilian exited the dome, with a few others following her out. Eventually, all of the members of the team went outside to frolic and play in the snow, despite the dropping temperature.

The only remaining members still in the dome were Sabrina, Aura, and Aspen. Aspen would have liked to join the others and just let go of everything, but she needed to get through to Aura, first.

Sabrina still didn't know about this. She despised cheating, as it ruined her relationship with her own father. So, her hatred of cheating extended much further. She couldn't care less about the game, she just knew that she hated Fez with a passion due to his infidelity. Nothing was going to change that.

So, after awhile, she decided to go outside with the others. Maybe assaulting Fez with snow would make her feel a bit better.

Now alone with the Glaceon, Aspen took a breath. "Aura, we need to talk…"

She groaned in annoyance. "Talk about what? I already gave my piece about how I feel about these losers…"

"You need to stop acting like such a priss," Aspen replied. "I've practically stopped overall because I realized that we're all in the same exact situation in this game and we need to be able to cooperate…"

Aura scoffed. "Please. Cooperation isn't in these guys' blood. They'll toss you out the first chance they get…"

"And why do you think that is?"

"Because there's always bias, no matter what," Aura explained. "These losers will _always_ look to the past to justify the present. And most of these goody-goodies do worse shit than others anyway, but still talk shit on other people who make mistakes or do things less severe than them!"

"For instance, you were a bitch earlier in the game, and you were sticking up for me. Once they get rid of me, you'll likely be the next one to go," Aura explained. "It'll be either because they claim you're 'useless', which can go for about half of them, too, or because you were actually trying to be a friend instead of an instant enemy. I've owned up to what I did, and I don't regret it because I have two wonderful children. But, people still just see me as 'the scummy bitch who raped a demon and a gay and got pregnant by both, instead of actually trying to get to know me. So, if they'll only see me like a bitch, why not make it a reality?"

Aspen blinked upon hearing that. It… actually sounded pretty sad, and she could hear Aura's tone shifting as she said it. At the moment, the shiny Eeveelution was looking down.

"Well Aura, you need to keep trying. Even if it seems like it won't amount to much, you need to prove that you're not what they claim you are. Stop giving them more ammunition and reason…" Aspen continued. "We all have flaws and we all make horrible decisions; we can't be judged by that forever…"

"Tell that to everyone in this stupid game," Aura said, walking to another part of the dome. "Ratboy and Casper are right. Everyone's full of hate and depression and no one knows how to let go of the past. And while they're outside frolicking in the snow, acting like they're willing to let go, I bet that as soon as an issue arises, they'll bring up bullshit that happened like… first season or second season in order to talk shit and justify something…"

"Speaking negative isn't going to change anything, Aura," Aspen explained. "Just keep your chin up, move forward yourself, and don't act like you've been acting…"

Aura huffed. "I doubt that it'll do anything. It's all made up in their minds already…."

Aspen sighed.

 **000**

" **I wish Aura wasn't so negative toward what could happen. I mean, sure, she's been acting bitchy, but she could help us out in this challenge if she puts herself in the mindset…"**

" **We could very well vote out Freezeo or Annie instead…"**

 **000**

Sparky, holding a rope in his teeth, was dragging a large box behind him, with Kojo pushing it on the opposite side. The two were in the forest, nearly back to their team's area. They didn't really say anything, as they didn't feel they had much in common.

That, and Sparky didn't really care for his company, while Kojo was rather nonchalant. But, needing to make more allies, Sparky decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, uh… is Summer… _good_?" he queried. " _Real smooth… genius…"_

"Uh… in what sense?" Kojo queried.

"Like… as a girlfriend… as a lay… in general…" Sparky explained.

Kojo felt like that was a strange thing to ask, especially since they were alone. "Yeah, she's great as a girlfriend," he replied. "I can always count on her for support and to feel better."

"Uh huh… and as a lay?"

Kojo's brow furrowed. "I prefer not to divulge that information; I don't see what use it has to you…"

"It's just a curiosity," Sparky replied, sensing his defensiveness. "Hell, I'm fucking married. What do you think I'm gonna do with that info?"

"I just prefer not getting our private matters…" Kojo replied. "Especially with these stupid cameras all around here," he said, pointing to a small red light in one of the trees. "Now, come on, we need to keep moving, I'm freezing my nuts off out here…"

Sparky rolled his eyes before picking up the rope again and continuing to drag the box forward, with Kojo pushing it.

 **-000-**

"Damn it Egridos, what the hell is wrong with you!?" Sally queried. "We said no sabotage!"

"And I say that you all have no common fucking sense," the coffin replied, annoyed that they were so persistent about not making it easier for their own team. "Sabo-"

"No, common sense would be us going out and searching for the damn boats first, setting up a base nearby and just waiting until it was time for us to go…" Amethyst chimed in, feeling rather annoyed with the constant arising of petty arguments.

"Seriously? Why the fuck are you always so fucking quiet and distant to everyone, but those ninnies, when you actually have good ideas?!" Taylor queried.

Amethyst didn't respond, choosing to stay silent.

"Well, it's a bit too late to try and do that, as you can see, it's night time, now!" Egridos exclaimed.

"Carson…" Connor drawled.

The Bronzong sighed before flipping upside down and firing another fireball into the sky.

"I hope you realize that thanks to whiny bitch over there, you'll probably have to do this all n-"

An ember was shot in his direction, making the coffin stop what he was saying. Seconds later, Vixen approached the group with an agitated look on her face.

"Ah, firefox, so nice of you to finally join-"

"Go fuck yourself…" Vixen growled, interrupting his thoughts. "Just give me some fucking wood so I make this fire…"

"It took you _this_ long to come to your senses?" Frosty asked.

Vixen shot him a death stare, making him immediately silence himself.

"Well… here's some wood from the broken crate…" Sola said, pushing a few pieces of wood in her direction.

Vixen used a light Flamethrower, igniting a fire.

"Finally…" Egridos groaned.

Suddenly, rustling from the bushes was heard, with Sparky and Kojo emerging with the crate. "Special delivery," Kojo joked as they entered the scene.

"Welcome back…" Carson greeted.

"Hey… you guys got the fire started. Good job…" Sparky stated. "Now just keep Farra away from it…"

Egridos used Shadow Ball on the crate, shattering it without warning the other two. "Less talk, more supplies…"

"What the hell, man!?" Kojo exclaimed as Egridos floated to the now broken crate.

"Let's see… rope, wood, water bottles, and...Saltine crackers…" the Coffin Pokemon said, picking up each object before settling on the two boxes of crackers. "Seriously? Dry ass crackers?"

"Hey, food is food," Frosty said, snatching one of the boxes of crackers from him.

"Well, this is _splendid_ ," Sally started. "A generator, seven blankets, rope, dry crackers, frozen water bottles, and wood… _very_ useful…"

"Hey, the other team used their wood to sleep on…" Morgan said with a shrug. "We should do the same…"

"These planks are pathetic…" Ace commented, picking up one of the flimsy pieces of wood. He placed one down on the snow and placed a paw on it, causing it to sink.

Vixen walked over to an area and used Flamethrower on the snow, melting it all. She moved her head back and forth in order to make the area large enough to hold everyone.

"Nice thinking, Vix," Sola credited.

"Where was all of this hours ago?" Egridos queried.

"Let's just be glad that she's up and actually helping us out…" Ashton explained, which Egridos rolled his eyes at.

Eventually, Vixen was able to finish a circular area of flat land for them to sleep on.

"Nice," Holly commented. "Now we just have to move the fire over there, and we'll be set for the most part…"

"Except for when the fire eventually goes out and we deal with the cold wind that will likely blow," Taylor said.

"...Shut up," Sally said stoically.

 **000**

After their snowball fight, the Ho-Ohs re-entered their dome and took their regular spots, either nearer to or further from, the fire.

"Well, I'll admit. That was fun," Cramad giggled, panting a bit.

"C-Considering that you j-just hid under your m-mushroom for a m-majority of it, I w-wouldn't expect to hear that from y-you," Klavier chuckled, holding himself while shivering. He made sure that he was right next to the fire, a blanket draped over his back.

"Yeah… that was… great," Anthony chuckled. "I actually feel a bit better overall, now…. It's weird…"

Marie had a smile on her face as well, which was pretty uncommon. "Yeah… that was actually exciting…" she said, lying against the Blastoise next to her, much to everyone's surprise.

"See. We just needed to calm down and just let loose," Dhaunt said before sniffling. "Though I may have just given myself a cold…"

Titan chuckled. "Well mates, we've successfully made it to night time," the Galvantula said, looking out of the dome. "Now, let's hope that tomorrow we're able to get up early, find those boats, and win the challenge…"

Suddenly, growls were heard coming from outside of the dome, very familiar growls. Summer groaned. "Are you kidding me?"

Looking outside, the Ho-Ohs were surprised to see that not only were the Beartic and Avalugg back, but there were a couple of Weavile, a couple of Glalie, an Abomasnow, and three Walrein with them.

"Okay, fuck this…" Summer growled as she got to her feet.

She stepped outside, her neck flames igniting furiously. An attack was heard, followed by the screams and cries from the Pokemon preparing to attack them.

Everyone still in the dome exchanged looks before hearing Summer yell at them. "AND DON'T EVER COME BACK, YOU PIECES OF SHIT!"

A few seconds later, the badger re-entered the dome, popping her back before yawning.

"How devious…" Brian stated. "I respect you more, fire lady. That shall not save you from my wrath, but it is quite an honor."

"...thanks…" Summer replied, unsure of what to make of that.

"Well, with that situation handled, I think we should get some sleep," Pia suggested, lying on her side. "We'll want to make sure that we're up early in the case the other team is doing better than us…"

"She's right for the most part," Aspen said. "Let's get rested up and get ready for the morning…"

"Well, I can serve as a look out for us," Marion spoke up. "I've got insomnia anyway…."

"You sure, babe?" Dhaunt queried.

"Yeah, I mean…" Lassie started. "You don't-"

"Oh please, I'll be fine," Marion replied, waving away their concerns. "You guys get some sleep…"

"Well, if you insist…" Phill stated before flopping on his back and snoring.

The others in the dome started lying down in exhaustion; eventually all of them fell asleep, with the exception of Marion, who stroked Dhaunt's back as he slept.

She took a deep breath before gazing out of the dome door.

" _Snow-filled land and frozen hearts..._

 _Error calls tear you apart…._

 _This world is yours, decide your fate…_

 _Live with love, please not with hate…_

 _Skateboards just keep rolling on…_

 _As long as you're there from dusk till dawn…_

 _We're all the same, no matter what you see…_

 _We want to roam the world joyous and free…"_ she sang melodically. She leaned down, kissing her husband's cheek before sighing in relief.

 **000**

10 hours later

 **000**

Anthony yawned, the sun glimmering down as water dripped onto his face from the snow outside of the dome. He felt a bit of extra weight on him and immediately realized that Marie was lying on top of him, a blanket covering the both of them.

He was initially weirded out, but relaxed himself and stroke her sides to wake her up. Feeling the pressure and 'tickling' of her sides, Marie's eyes slowly opened. She looked down, and her eyes immediately widened. A blush grew on her face and a small smile etched itself on her face.

"Morning…" Anthony greeted softly with a small smile of his own.

"Morning…" Marie cleared her throat, noticing, that she had her arms on his shoulders. She grew redder, a growl occurring in the back of her throat as she looked to the side awkwardly.

The new couple slowly moved their maws toward each other before locking them in a kiss. Anthony found his arms going to the gator's hips as they actually deepened the kiss a bit.

This time, after twenty seconds, they broke their kiss are just sighed. "I really have to get used to this…" Marie giggled.

"What? Did Flame not allow this?" Anthony joked.

"Now that you mention it… no," Marie replied, their noses touching.

Suddenly, the twosome heard the clearing of throats. They turned their heads to see that a good majority of their teammates were already up, and a select few were still in the dome with them. They noticed a few smug looks on their faces and quickly separated, with Marie standing up and letting their blanket drop before folding her arms, while Anthony started getting to his feet. "What?"

"So… uh… you two are official now, huh?" Summer joked. "When did this happen?"

"First things first, it's a trial phase," Marie said, wanting to set the record straight. "And secondly… it was when he said he wanted to talk outside of the dome…"

"Oh, so smug Anthony asked you out?" Lassie joked. "How precious…"

"Pfft… dating. Such an irrational construct," Brian commented. "Bonding to someone and pledging your undying affection. Blegh… That is nowhere near evil."

"Brian, don't you still like Esmeralda?" Pia drawled.

"That is not the point, woman!"

"Okay, hate to break up the lovey-dovey moment here, but I think that we should get going and try to find the boats…" Aura said.

"How would we even know where to go?" asked Klavier.

"Get an aerial view!" Annie suggested.

Hearing that, Fez, Sabrina, and Klavier immediately took flight.

 **000**

The Lugias were already heading through the forest, trying to make it to the possible shore and find the boats. Once they made it to the edge, they saw that the boats were not there.

"Alright, check the perimeter…" Sparky commanded.

"They're right over there," Amethyst said, gesturing to the right.

Looking to the right, the others saw that Amethyst was correct. There were two large rowboats sitting next to each other, tied to wooden stakes.

"Both boats are still there," Ashton said. "We still have a chance, c'mon!"

"Do we know where our normal island is?" Connor queried as they all rushed to the boats.

"I assume that there's something in the boats to help us!" Morgan said as she hopped in the boat first, causing it to rock a bit. Looking inside, she saw that there was a G.P.S. there. "Yep! G.P.S.!"

The other members of the team started piling on their boat, causing it to shake and rock erratically every time someone new came on. Egridos, being the last one on the boat, unlatched the boat and Kojo grabbed one of the paddles.

Sally grabbed another one, Ace used his ribbons to grab another one, and Ashton used her vines to get the last one.

"Alright, which way are we headed?" Ace inquired.

"According to this… northwest!" Morgan replied, looking at the G.P.S..

"Got it," Kojo said as he and the others started rowing.

In the sky, the three avians saw them start rowing away and immediately headed back to their group.

 **-000-**

"Come on, it shouldn't take this long!" Marie said, tapping her foot impatiently. "The other team could be gone for all we know!"

"Calm yourself," Pia said. "There they are, now."

The two birds and gargoyle flew down to their group with panicked expressions.

"We need to go, NOW!" Klavier exclaimed. "The other team is rowing away as we speak!"

"WHAT?!" nearly everyone replied. "Where's the boat?!"

"Follow us!" Fez said as he started flying away, with the others in tow.

 **-000-**

The Lugias were already nearing their main island, which was extremely weird. The rushing water didn't seem to be a hindrance, and there didn't seem to be any obstacles or attacking Pokemon in the water to heed their progress.

"Wow… you're telling me that these losers seriously didn't trap the water or screw with us?" Taylor remarked. "We may actually have a chance here!"

"Taylor, you've possibly just jinxed us," Sally commented in annoyance.

After a while, it seemed that nothing happened, which was a good thing. And, much to everyone's surprise, it continued that way as they reached the shore of the island.

"Yes, we made it!" Carson cheered as he and the others started exiting their boat. "We did it!"

The Lugias began cheering and high-fiving each other, as Victini and Mew approached the group. Mew had a blank expression, while Victini just chortled.

"Congrats Loser Lugias, you guys _almost_ won!" Victini heckled.

Hearing the host say that made everyone's smile disappear and be replaced by looks of anger.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shine growled.

"If I'm not mistaken, you guys seem to be missing a player…" Victini stated, looking over the team.

"What?" Morgan queried as she and the others exchanged glances.

It was eventually Frosty who realized their mistake. "Ah… crap. We left Farra!"

"She didn't thaw out?!" Holly exclaimed.

"Apparently not…" Egridos drawled. "And I take it that you expect us to row all the way back there to get her?"

"What do you think?" Victini replied.

The Lugias all groaned as the faint sound of water and yelling was heard. Looking out into the sea, the Lugias, as well as Mew and Victini, saw another boat in the distance, with jets of water coming from behind them.

The boat sped toward the island before crashing into a different part of it. They all quickly rushed to them.

 **-000-**

The Ho-Ohs all groaned as they were scattered about the section of the island they crashed into.

"Arceus, I hate my life…" Klavier groaned, his tail wrapped around a tree branch.

"Whose idea was it to use my cannons again?" Anthony groaned.

"Sorry…" Dhaunt apologized, muffled, lying face first in the sand

"WHOA! Mega wipeout!" Victini laughed.

"Victini, you can go… ah whatever…" Annie groaned, half of her head buried in the sand.

"Well, you guys should be happy. You guys won!"

"What? How?" Titan asked in confusion. "I thought the others-"

"We left Farra behind 'accidentally'..." Sola explained.

"Yep, so you guys get a victory, and I get to rewatch this wipeout over and over again from the cameras. It's win-win!" Victini laughed before turning to the Lugias. "Well, except for you guys. You guys will be heading to elimination tonight."

The Lugias all groaned.

 **000**

Everyone from the Lugias sat at the elimination ceremony, with Farra being there, now covered with a blanket. A glare was directed at Frosty, who was the cause of her being left behind in the frozen state. Frosty didn't even want to make eye contact.

"Well, this should be a pretty simple elimination ceremony," Victini said as he and Mew arrived. "And I have to say, on the other island, you guys did some good things… which is boring as fuck…"

"Oh shut up. We're actually trying to get along with each other, dick head!" Ace growled. "Mew, can you just tell us who's safe so we can go?"

"Gladly…" Mew replied. "Ace, Amethyst, Ashton, Holly, Carson, Shine, Sola, Vixen, Sparky, Kojo, Taylor, Connor, Egridos, and Sally, you guys had no votes against you…"

"Morgan… you had _one_ vote against you…"

The Persian scoffed. "Really Egridos?!"

"Force of habit…" the ghost-type replied with a shrug.

"Farra and Frosty…" Victini spoke. "You each have a pretty good reason for this..."

"Farra…. Ever since Striker got eliminated, you've been a full blown bitch on wheels…" Victini commented.

Farra glared at him.

"And… Frosty, you're the cause of Farra being frozen in the first place, costing your team the challenge," Victini said.

Frosty sighed.

"And the one going home is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Farra…"

The Girafarig rolled her eyes with a smile. "Fine by me," she said with a giggle. "I'd much rather be home than in this shit show…"

"That's the spirit!" Mew encouraged.

Victini rolled his eyes. "Time to go, Farra…"

 **000**

The Girafarig made her way to the dock, with Frosty accompanying her, much to her irritation.

"Farra, I'm sorry…" Frosty admitted. "You were just going too far and doing way too much for my liking…"

Farra sighed. "Whatever. Just at least try to make it further. Hell, without me, you may actually be able to prove yourself useful. Emphasis on 'may'."

"Thanks for that…" he droned.

Farra giggled as she entered the elevator doors.

"Alright. In three… two… one… suction!" Victini said, pressing a button, dropping her down the tube.

Frosty shuddered, seeing the more advanced device at work. "It's like a scary-ass amusement park ride, now…"

"Yep. Isn't it wonderful…?"

Immediately, Frosty left the vicinity, leaving the two hosts. Victini chortled, while Mew just rolled his eyes.

 **000**

 **And there we have it, Farra is now gone. Not like anyone will really miss her anyway. Anyways, lots of good things happened! Maybe these guys will actually start living their lives instead of wallowing in their hatred! Marie and Anthony are official (sorta…), and we have some very very minor Klavier and Holly mentioning. Taylor actually admits to being who he is, and we get some more insight on a few other characters, sorta… Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **Farra: Read and review, please.**


	12. It's Getting Heated

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs… the campers found themselves stranded in a snowy domain in which they had to survive. Many things of interest occurred. Anthony and Marie became official, Titan showed off his survival skills, Frosty finally had enough of Farra, overall, the contestants had a very interesting time. From snowball fights, to truth or dare, to kidnapping, there was hardly a dull moment. As the challenge progressed, it was thought that the Loser Lugias were going to win, but an error on Frosty's, as well as everyone else's, part led to them leaving behind Farra, costing them the challenge. And for doing nothing more than talk down and be an annoyance, Farra took the Suck of Shame.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Following the previous challenge, the atmosphere around the island was rather calm and peaceful for the most part. The contestants found themselves enjoying each other's company a bit better, as there were not as many arguments or snide comments made as there used to be.

This was a first, as usually the contestants would express their fatigue, hatred of either someone in the game or the hosts, or the game itself. And, as the temperature continued to rise, as per the weather forecast, things were going to be getting hotter and hotter.

 **000**

Wanting to impress a certain Swoobat, Klavier requested advice from the two people he trusted the most. On the sandy beach, Kojo and Phill sat in front of their nervous friend as he rocked back and forth, unsure about what to do.

"Dude, calm down. Just be yourself…" Kojo instructed, concerned about the jittery Gliscor. "What are you so nervous about anyway?"

"Everything!" Klavier responded, swiping a pincer in the sand. "I have no idea how to deal with this! We've talked for the most part, nothing more! _And_ I've never had a real relationship with _anyone_."

"Is that because of the stalking thing?" Phill spoke, knowingly.

Klavier didn't respond. Instead, a blush of embarrassment spread across his face. Seeing his reaction and his silence, the two friends took that as a yes.

The Mienshao let out a sigh, unsure of what to make of situations like this. Despite his skepticism toward his own relationship knowledge, he decided to offer the best advice that he could. "Well, have you considered doing something or talking about things that _she_ may enjoy? You said you guys talked for the most part, so what does Holly like? Or, what is she like in general?"

Klavier gained a thoughtful expression. "Well, she's nice-"

"That can apply to a decent amount of people here, but alright…" Phill commented, resulting in Kojo nudging him with his elbow.

"Anything else?" Kojo urged.

"Um, she said that she wanted to become a nurse, she likes watching soap operas and rom-coms, her favorite color is cadmium yellow…"

"Is that all?" Phill queried sarcastically, knowing that there was more.

"Actually no. She volunteers a lot, she loves meat, she'd use the money to pay for nursing school, she's rooming with Ashton and her husband for the time being, she likes going out, she-"

"Okay, okay, calm down dude," Kojo urged, insisting that Klavier cease the listing of traits. "Try to focus on the simple things. She's nice; she likes meat; she likes going out… Why don't you try making her a picnic?"

"Bro, last time I checked, the only things on this island that we can really eat are berries, that rotten shit in the gazebo, or what's in the Winner's Cabin," Phill explained. "And if I'm not mistaken, there's no _real_ meat in there besides bacon, ham, and chicken."

"Hey, making sandwiches can't hurt," Kojo said with a shrug. "It doesn't have to be anything major like a four course meal or anything…"

Klavier, still being a bit uncertain, looked to the fighting-type. "What would you do for Summer?" he inquired with a look of wonder.

Kojo glanced back at him and rubbed the back of his head. "Could you elaborate?"

"If you were in my shoes, what would do for her so that she'd _want_ to date you?" Klavier queried, fiddling with his pincers.

Kojo thought about it for a moment. As someone with celebrity status, albeit a bit mellow, he'd likely just continue talking to her, eventually asked her on a date, try his best to be natural and have fun with her, and then ask her out.

However, given their current situation, none of that would really be possible. So, the least that he could think of would be a picnic at the gazebo, after disposing of the foul pot of food, of course.

"Well, on this island, I'd have to go for a picnic…" Kojo explained. "Outside of it, I'd be able to do much more…"

Klavier sighed. "So this is the best that I'll be able to do…"

"Dude, I'm sure Holly won't be _that_ picky…" Phill replied. "She knows that this island lacks resources, so calm down."

"Yeah, but I just want this to be perfect!" Klavier exclaimed. "I want her to feel like I'm a great choice."

"Oh-ho… so you want a relationship like these two," Phill chortled. He turned to the weasel, patting his back. "Well, this is all you, dude…"

Kojo sighed, already feeling exasperated. Summer was just his second girlfriend, and he was still _technically_ with Floatzelle. This wouldn't be the case after they were both out of the game, but still. "Look Klavier, just be yourself and do what you feel is necessary. Holly won't judge you that hard. I'm sure of it…"

Klavier stared down at the sand in nervousness as the Mienshao rose to his feet. "Well, I've gotta go meet Summer…"

"Are you two gonna 'play-fuck' again?" Phill asked with a smirk as Kojo began walking away. The Mienshao paused, turning back to the rat with a blush on his face.

"No…" he responded. "The most you'll catch us doing is making out. Sex ain't happening until we're off of this shit hole…"

"Good," Phill replied, getting to his feet as well. "Wouldn't want to see you two lovebirds 'making babies' online…"

"Exactly my point…" Kojo replied, his glare tightening before looking at the small cameras in the trees. The miniature cameras captured every waking moment, no matter who you were or what you were doing. Usually, he'd enjoy being in the cameras, because that meant he'd get paid for having a semi-good time. This game was a similar scenario to that, only he wasn't having much of a good time.

"Well, hey, even if you don't win this life-draining game, at least you got something great out of it," Phill chimed in. "A smokin' hot girlfriend that _actually_ cares about you…"

Kojo smirked at him; he was right after all. Summer was the best thing that ever happened to him. Sure, he had money and status, but he still felt worthless and loveless. His father committed suicide not long after he started acting because of repeated sexual assault, his _real_ mother actuallydied when he was born, and his stepmother ended up dying while he was in the middle of a shoot, so he was essentially alone.

"Well," they heard Klavier say, turning back to their bachelor friend. "I guess I should go find Holly and just… talk to her again."

"What happened to impressing her?" Phill queried.

In response, the Gliscor took a breath. "I'll just try to talk to her and lead into asking her out. I don't think we'll have enough time for a picnic anyway. I'd have to make everything, find a good place, and then try to find her before they call us down for a stupid challenge…"

Phill whistled in understanding. "Yeah, I can see your point…"

"Well…" the Fang Scorpion Pokemon swallowed anxiously. "Wish me luck…"

The Gliscor glided back toward the campgrounds, leaving the Mienshao and Raticate behind. "Good luck!" Phill wished, waving him off.

Kojo could only smile a bit. Hopefully their friend was able to go through with it and get the girl.

 **000**

Hot water hissed as it streamed from the showerheads of the washrooms. Pia was standing in the shower, letting the water wash over her. She sighed in repose, grabbing a bottle of nearby shampoo. She lathered her hands in the pink substance before beginning to massage her neck fur. The small, light pink tiles lining the floor underneath her began being covered with white hairs.

As she continued to pamper herself, she heard the door of the washrooms creak open. The Hypno couldn't help but groan internally at the sound. She hardly ever saw or heard about people using the washrooms, but based on the conditions of a few other shower sections she saw, they were used rather frequently.

Hearing the pitter-patter of paws, she turned a bit in her 'cubicle', and saw that it was Aura and Aspen who had entered. She rose a brow, continuing to shower while also listening to what they were saying.

 **-000-**

The two canids entered rather quietly, no words really exchanged. Aura passed a glance toward Pia, acknowledging her presence before she and Aspen each entered their own shower cubicles.

Turning on the hot water, Aspen took a breath. "Alright Aura, you need to show the team that you're not the bitch that they see you as, _and_ that you're a valuable asset to the team. So, I think the first step should be a pretty simple one."

Aura sighed, turning the faucet as lukewarm water streamed down onto her face. "Aspen, I told you. These guys won't care about what I do. The only thing they care about is the fact that I fucked Shade and Ricky without consent over twenty-years ago…"

Aspen passed the shiny Glaceon a thoughtful glance. "Remember what Marie said. They aren't treating you the way they are because of what happened back then; they're treating you this way because they think you're a bad teammate."

"Well, what am I supposed to do about that, then?" the Fresh Snow Pokemon replied, sitting down as she reached for the body wash and loofah. "With so many people on the team insisting on 'being in charge' during certain challenges, there's no reason for me to even try if I'll just end up getting a negative comment. Plus, I don't even know what I'd do if I was in charge..."

"You don't have to be in charge, Aura," Aspen said, lathering her fur with shampoo. "You just need to prove your worth to them."

Aura looked down at the pink tiles, unsure of what Aspen was saying. Knowing how the others act toward her, she didn't know if she could do so without still being treated like crap. But,, if she was going to try and survive, she needed to at least try. "Well, what's this simple step you're talking about?"

"Well, firstly, I think you need to talk to Shine, and clear the air…"

"WHAT?!" Aura bellowed in surprise. There was no way that she was going to talk to the stubborn Espeon. They hated each other! How was she supposed to clear the air with her? "How the hell am I gonna do that when that bitch hates me and I hate her!"

"Okay, please enlighten me…" Aspen replied. "Why do _you_ hate _her_ , exactly? I can see her hating you, but the other way around? I'm not so sure…"

Aura sighed. "Just the fact that she's still with Shade after what happened. I mean, if a male has sex with another girl and gets her pregnant, isn't the wife supposed to want a divorce or something of that nature?"

"So, you hate her… because she stuck with Shade?" Aspen queried. "Honey, that's not that good of a reason. That just means that she's faithful. You need to make things right…"

"How?" Aura queried. "I don't have a boyfriend for her to have sex with, as far as I know, she's infertile, and every time we see each other, we exchange shitty comments."

"Just… try to talk to her," Aspen suggested. "About anything. Just-"

"And how is that gonna help me get on good standing with _our_ team?" Aura queried, not knowing what significance doing this would have.

"It'll give you a bit of control and how that you guys have grown and at least don't hate each other completely," Aspen explained, lowering her head under the faucet. "Then, all you have to do is do something significant in the next challenge and maybe it'll save you from elimination…"

 **-000-**

Pia gained a smirk upon hearing that. Her, Brian, and Freezeo's plan was still to take her out. However, she felt that it would be appropriate to instill a bit of false hope into her.

Turning off the faucet, Pia grabbed a towel from the side and wrapped it around herself, as courtesy. "Well, I'll just say this…" Pia started, getting their attention as she stepped out of her cubicle. "Lassie is a dual-type, being both ice-type _and_ ghost-type, which renders not only _you_ useless, but Freezeo, Dhaunt and Marion as well. So, you'd better prove yourself to be worthy soon or convince the others to eliminate one of them. It'll be your best bet…"

And with that, the Hypno started heading out of the washrooms, leaving the two canids alone.

 **000**

" **Why say that?" Pia asked figuratively. "If Aura's able to make herself seem** _ **decent**_ **by the end of today's challenge, but we still lose, I can just convince the others that it's an act that probably won't last long."**

" **Either way, no matter she does, she's gone the next time we lose…"**

 **000**

Anthony's eyes slowly flickered open as he groggily looked around in his vicinity. He was in his room, still tucked in a corner. He could feel someone else in his bed with him, already knowing who it was. He flipped over, wrapping his arms around the Feraligatr beside him.

Marie, who was awake and just lying next to him, felt the arm drape around her. A slight smile crept onto her face; she slowly turned over so that theirs eyes met.

"Morning…" Marie greeted, with Anthony pulling her closer to himself.

"Morning," the Blastoise replied, their maws inches away from each other now.

Being this close, Marie blushed a bit before leaning in a bit into him, initiating a kiss. They broke it after a while, with Marie sitting up with a sigh. "We may need to slow this down a bit…"

"We aren't really doing anything," Anthony replied with a shrug, sitting up as well. "The least we're doing is sleeping together willingly. It isn't like we're gonna let, whatever we're gonna call this, hinder how we do in the challenges. If _you_ do…"

Marie scoffed as she slid in over to get off of the bed. "As if. I'd be more worried about _you_ acting weird," she replied as she got on her feet.

She started heading out of the room, feeling chills from the air conditioning. Anthony smirked, getting out of bed to follow her.

The gator went around in the other rooms to see if there was anyone else still inside of the cozy, yet chilly cabin. She was surprised to see that there was no one else in the victors' residence. As she entered the kitchen, she felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her, making her sigh.

"Anthony, really?" Marie queried, she asked with a smirk.

He chortled, retracting his arms from her waist. The Blastoise walked around her, only to be grabbed by her. "I didn't say you had to stop…" she said with a smirk.

"What happened to 'slowing it down'?" Anthony queried with a smug expression.

"Well, we aren't in a challenge are we?" Marie replied, giving him a strangely suggestive look.

Anthony was a bit surprised to see that side of her, as opposed to the overly bitchy side. It was refreshing, and a bit sexy. If he had to be honest, he was enjoying himself. She wasn't as brash and stuck-up as he thought she'd be.

Marie, despite her initial uncertainty of this union, found herself enjoying it a bit as well. This was just their third day of being together, and she already felt better than she did with Flame. She didn't think that a smug bastard like Anthony could actually have a tolerable, relationship savvy side.

The two of them locked maws once again, only briefly, though.

"Okay, we seriously need to stop doing that so often…" Marie commented. The two of them locked eyes momentarily before Anthony picked her up and carried her over to the couch. He sat down, with her growling a bit.

Turning to face him, she gave him a look of irritation. "What are you doing?"

"You said we need to stop doing that so often, so, I say that we just do it until we get tired of it, because I could tell that you were just going to do it again…" Anthony stoically explained. Marie's eyes widened before a blush spread across her face.

He continued. "Look, I don't want us becoming a kissy couple like Kojo and Summer, so let's just deal with it and then make some breakfast…"

Marie huffed, leaning down against him, their noses touching. "You're something else, pipsqueak. You know that?"

"Whatever you say, overbearing…" Anthony replied before the two locked maws again, engaging in an intense makeout session.

The sound of the door's tumbler immediately made the couple cease their lip-locking session as Marie got out of Anthony's lap and started heading to the kitchen.

Sabrina walked into the cabin, raising a brow upon seeing the two of them alone. Seeing the two of them all cuddled up in the previous challenge caused her to be very irritated. The two of them initially hated each other, and all of a sudden they were all over each other? She didn't buy it; she didn't know why, but she didn't. "Um… Why are you guys still in here?" she inquired.

"We woke up late," Anthony replied nonchalantly, reaching for the television remote. "No big deal…" he stated as he began flicking through the television stations.

Sabrina gave him a look of distrust before looking to Marie, who was taking out pans and bowls to cook breakfast. As the Staraptor walked over, Marie spoke up. "I'm gonna make an omelette, you want one?" she asked to Anthony.

"Nah, I'll just stick to cereal," Anthony responded as he rose to his feet, settling on an early movie on the Longlove Network. "Thanks for the offer, though. And… it looks like we're watching... _Broken Latches_..."

"Eh," Marie shrugged as the Blastoise came into the kitchen. "Could be worse… It could be _Shogun Residential_ …"

Anthony verbally retched at the mention of that film.

Sabrina could only watch the two of them in confusion, anger, and… _envy_. How the hell could the two of them go from being completely annoyed and hateful of each other on a regular basis to kissing and being so enamored in a day? It didn't make any sense to her.

 **000**

" **I'm keeping an eye on those two," Sabrina commented. "No relationship happens in a day; either Anthony threatened her or hypnotized her somehow, or they're concocting some sort of plan…"**

" **I know for a fact that a chick like Marie doesn't go from completely despising someone's existence to being all lovey-dovey with him in an instant," she continued. "Something's up. I just know it…"**

 **000**

As she raided the fridge, Marie noticed that Sabrina was just sitting and staring at the couple from the hallway. She rose a brow. "You alright, Sabrina?"

Just as she was about to reply, Anthony walked right behind Marie, leaning up to get his cereal. His crotch pressed against her rear for a few seconds, with the Feraligatr having no real reaction as she took out eggs, butter, shredded cheese, a bag of bacon bits, and milk.

"Yeah… sure…" Sabrina said in an incredulous, yet suspicious, tone as she walked back to her room.

Marie was a bit unsure about what was wrong with the Staraptor, but her hunger was leading her to focus on the omelette.

As Anthony poured his Cheerios into the bowl, he eyed Marie turning on the oven. "So, who taught you how to cook?" he asked curiously as he poured milk into his bowl.

Opening the cabinets, Marie responded back with a shrug as she pulled out salt and pepper. "Just watched a bunch of cooking videos and shows on television. My mom used to teach me, but… She just stopped one day. So, I had to learn from the professionals…"

Anthony nodded in understanding. "Yeah, well, I never learned. My grandma tried to teach me, but… I was too lazy and stubborn to get off my ass and actually listen. So, I'm pretty much a ramen, cereal, and fast food guy," he chuckled.

Marie smirked at him as she cracked two eggs into a small bowl. "Well, tell ya what. One of these days, I'll teach you how to cook. And I'll _make_ you pay attention. How does that sound?"

Anthony chortled as she grabbed the milk from next to him. "Good luck…" he teased.

Marie rolled her eyes as she dribbled a bit of the milk onto the eggs, followed by a bit of salt and pepper. She started stirring the concoction together before turning back around and locking lips with the Blastoise briefly.

Breaking the kiss, she couldn't help but smile. Anthony smiled back. Maybe this was actually going to go well.

 **000**

" **I have to admit. I'm liking this a lot more than I thought I would," Marie revealed, her arms folded. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but… He's actually kinda fun to hang around."**

" **And it's kinda nice to learn a bit more about him…" she continued. "I could get used to this. I mean… It's still a test drive, though. Yeah…"**

 **000**

 **"Okay, why the hell is she so attractive to me now?" Anthony queried. "I mean, she's being cool, she's cooking, we're kissing** _ **a lot**_ **, and she's definitely strong. I meant what I said, though. I don't want to be a 'kissy' couple. Plus, this is still just a trial phase… right?"**

 **000**

Connor groaned in exasperation as he sat in the section behind the bushes at the lake. Annie, Titan, Cramad, and Clay were sitting around him, with Annie rubbing the side of his face in comfort.

"I just don't know what to do," the buffalo explained. "He likes me, but I don't like him…"

"Well, mate. I don't know what to tell you," Titan replied. "It shouldn't be that big of a deal, though. I mean, according to you, he said that he knows that you don't like him the same way. What's the problem?"

"It's just… so awkward," Connor explained. "I mean, I still want him to keep me safe, but… not at the expense of my comfort! I'm not used to being _liked_ …"

"Um, out of curiosity, Connor, what's your sexual preference?" Cramad queried.

After that question was proposed, Connor opened his mouth to respond, only to pause and close it, a bit unsure. Breathing out a sigh, Connor bashfully looked to the side. "I'm… not quite sure," he admitted. "I mean, I know I like girls, but sometimes I do see some feminine looking guys and think they're cute, too. I just… I don't know."

"Ah," Clay began. "I think I know what you are, Connor."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You're bisexual, but you're partial to women," Clay explained. "You just admitted to finding feminine males cute, so you play for both teams. I mean, it's not a bad thing. Your species are relatively well endowed and open to doing just about anything. "

Hearing that made Connor blush a deep crimson, but also made the others raise their brows in suspicion.

"Uh, Clay, how would you know this?" Annie queried, feeling a bit unnerved.

The Sudowoodo shrugged. "I watch _Feral Fields_ when I'm bored. It's addictively informative…"

"So… what? Is he supposed to just _have his way_ with Taylor?" Cramad queried, confused as to what this information had to do with anything.

"I mean… if Taylor likes him, why not use that to his advantage?" Clay suggested with a shrug.

"Wait, what?" Titan asked as the others looked at him in bewilderment.

"Yeah, like Taylor presumably did in his last season. Maybe use a false relationship to get further," Clay replied. "After the abuse you've suffered under his tail fin, I think he can take a bit of bit of heartbreak."

"Clay, I don't think that'll be a good thing for Connor to do," Annie remarked. "He's not that kind of guy…"

"I'm really not…" Connor agreed, unsure about this plan that Clay was concocting. "I mean, he kissed me before, but, I don't think that _I'm_ … capable of acting out things like that. It makes me feel… awkward."

"I mean, it's only a suggestion if you ever gain the courage," Clay explained. "Not saying that you don't have any right now, but, you know what I mean…"

Connor looked down.

 **000**

" **I don't… know…" Connor stated. "I mean, sure Taylor's attractive in some aspects, but… I don't know if I'm willing to toy with his heart, even after what he's done. He's just now accepting himself. I know he's a jackass, but… I just can't…"**

 **000**

Morgan, Vixen, Sola, and Sparky were in the gym. Morgan and Sola were walking on the treadmills, while Vixen was lying in the battling ring. Sparky had just entered the vicinity, having heard Shine mention that the three girls were heading this way.

Seeing the Absol and Persian distracted, the lion walked toward Vixen with a smirk on his face. The fox took notice of his jovial gait and rose a brow; a small smirk appeared shortly after. "I take it that you're happy that Farra's gone?"

"Damn right," the Luxray replied, climbing into the ring with her. He needed to get her alone so that his plan could work. He already knew how she'd react, and was expecting it.

"Hey, uh… Vix. Do you mind if we talk a bit… _outside_?"

Vixen blinked in response. She really didn't care about going anywhere alone with the lion; her reputation was already tarnished and nothing she did was ever going to change it. She came to terms with that in the last challenge. She let out a sigh before getting onto her feet. "Fine. Not like shit could get any worse for me in this stupid show…"

She started heading out of the ring, and Sparky actually started feeling a bit guilty. " _Don't you dare wuss out, you piece of shit. This bitch is easy pickings. Take her out and you're one step closer to this stupid prize of yours… and as a bonus, you ruin her life a bit more."_

Sparky sneered, watching the golden fox's butt sway as she headed out of the gym after her.

Sola and Morgan, suddenly feeling a lack of presence in the gym, turned around, shaking off their headphones.

"Uh… where'd Vixen go?" asked Morgan.

"Maybe she decided to just go back to the cabins…" Sola proposed.

 **-000-**

Sparky led Vixen deeper into the forest, wanting to be sure that no one saw. They reached a clearing with a large rock sitting there, along with a few blooming flowers.

Vixen rose a brow as they entered the area. It was a bit weird for Sparky to lead her somewhere without at least engaging in a conversation. And, why was it necessary to come all the way out here when they just had to step outside of the gym?

Sparky took a seat in front of the rock and faced her with a sneer on his face. Vixen, seeing this look, grew a bit wary. This was the same look that Shade, Demenio, and even Cano made when they snapped.

"Um… are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked as he started circling around her, as if she was prey. "I mean, sure… it's been a bit _difficult_ in this shitty game. My wife got voted off over bullshit, and my brother got voted off for the same reason. Then, a stupid giraffe bitch decides to bash my head against a tree just because I didn't want to take her crap. Isn't that a _joy_?"

"Well, things aren't going that well for _me_ , either…" Vixen retorted. "Need I remind you that even though cheating has happened throughout this game, and I was _drugged_ , _I_ am the sole recipient of poor treatment and harassment."

Sparky chortled, much to her surprise. "Yeah. I realize that… and, it would seem that _I'm_ the one who's always brought up with you…" he said, stopping behind her. "How… interesting…" he said, starting to caress her back.

Vixen immediately shot forward, turning around to face him, a look of utter shock on her face. "What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed, her back against the rock.

"Oh come on Vix.." Sparky said, stalking closer as Vixen used one of her hind paws to keep him at a distance. However, Sparky licked her paw, making her shiver and retract it. "You and I both know that you want me…" he said in a husky tone, which didn't phase Vixen. Instead, she growled.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" she exclaimed, pushing his paws away as she tried to get away, only to be blocked in.

"You can't tell me that you don't see it…" he said, licking her cheek, making her shudder in fear. "You and I are always the source of the tension and pain that plagues you. Plus, while we were in the jail cell, and I had to pull out your key… I felt you quiver. And… you were notably… _moist…_ "

Vixen glowered at him. "Oh yes, the most sensitive part of my body being touched and stretched by something large; that _totally_ doesn't cause that reaction!" she shouted, pushing him away.

"I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but you need to think about the fuck you're trying to do!" Vixen growled. "We're both fucking married, you asshole!"

"And neither of them are here…" Sparky stated before initiating a kiss between the two of them. Vixen prepared to claw at him and push him away, but he pinned her against the rock, causing her to whimper a bit as he forced his muzzle against hers harder.

Vixen closed her eyes, her maw beginning to glow. Sparky's eyes widened as he felt intense heat starting to enter his mouth. He withdrew immediately with a shout of pain. Vixen immediately darted away, panicked.

Sparky, seeing her run, snarled before chasing after her.

 **-000-**

Vixen tried to rush back to the gym and get help from Morgan and Sola, but Sparky had led her so far in that she had gotten lost!

"No, no, no, no…" she repeated, looking around in the dense trees.

" _Vixen~..._ "

The Ninetales immediately rushed away again, not daring to fight him. He could kill her if he wanted to! She didn't want to risk it.

"You can run, bitch… but you can't hide…" Sparky stated, running right after her. His x-ray vision allowed him to keep a radar on her, so no matter where she went, he was right behind her.

Snarling, he picked up the speed, eventually getting right on her tails. With a grand pounce, he took her down and flipped her over. "Nice try…" he said with a sick smile.

"H-HELP! HEL-" Sparky immediately used a paw to cover her mouth. Immediately, the fire-type used another Flamethrower. This time, Sparky clenched his teeth and eyes, keeping his grip.

"You're gonna take this, whether you like it or not…" he growled as he tried to spread her haunches. Vixen kept kicking him away, but Sparky placed a paw on her throat. "Keep struggling… and I will end you…"

"W-we can't die…" she choked out.

Sparky moved himself into position, with Vixen beginning to tear up and sob. Sparky growled, preparing to violate her, but, as he looked at her weeping form, he realized that he couldn't. _"Do it you wimp…"_ he heard his father say in his head. " _Don't you fucking stop, now. They always cry and beg for mercy; it never stopped me from taking what I want and snapping their necks…"_

Growling, Sparky just panted, staring down at his helpless sister-in-law. He placed both of his paws around her neck and slowly started to squeeze.

Vixen breathed out a harsh Flamethrower in the air as he tried to strangle her, but Sparky grabbed a nearby rock and smashed it against her head, knocking her out cold.

He panted heavily, his mind slowly processing what was he just did. He smirked to himself as he moved his head downwards.

 **000**

Frosty sighed as he floated through the forest aimlessly, trying to think of a new strategy now that he was all alone. "Well, I guess I'll be gone soon enough now that I'm out of real allies…"

As the Snowstorm Pokemon continued through the forest, nearing the beach, he heard groaning. Following the source, Frosty eventually found Sparky lying against a log, with Vixen lying on top of him, 'asleep'.

His eyes widened. "What in Arceus'-"

Sparky's eyes widened upon seeing Frosty. The lion looked petrified. "Frosty… before you say anything… let me explain…"

"Please do, because last time I checked, you two were married to other people!" Frosty exclaimed. "Jeez, maybe Farra was right…"

"NO!" Sparky growled before calming himself down. He gently rolled Vixen off of himself in order to get onto all fours. He let out a sigh. "Listen, Vixen was the one who wanted this! _She_ came onto _me_ out of nowhere, asked to talk to me, led me here, and then… straddled me. I wanted no part of it, but I didn't want to hurt her, either!"

"Wait, so… she _is_ a…"

The Luxray sighed. "Listen Frosty, I just think that Vixen should go. I think that she's just so overwhelmed with everything that's happened to her and Cano that… she tried to get something out of me that just isn't what she wants…"

"Yeah, that does sound pretty bad," Frosty said. "But still! You could have overpowered her or-"

"I know that, and when I did it the first time, she said that she'd tell you guys that I raped her and that I was out of my mind!" he explained. "I just… I couldn't deal with it…"

Frosty sighed. "That… that sucks," he said, glancing toward a still unconscious Vixen. He turned back to Sparky. "Well, tell you what. Whenever we lose another challenge, I'll tell the others about what happened. We'll see if we can get her back home to Cano, alright?"

Sparky took a breath. "Alright. Thanks…"

Frosty nodded before floating away, still unable to comprehend what he just saw and was told. Sparky sneered before looking back at the still unconscious fox.

 **000**

" **Perfect…" Sparky stated with a grin. "I was lucky that Frosty was floating by, or else I'd have been groaning for hours! Now that the bait has been set, I just have to wait for the fish to bite after the challenge…"**

 **000**

Klavier and Holly were sitting at the shabby gazebo in silence. The nervous Gliscor had to fly all around the island in search of the Swoobat. Eventually, he found her with her friends and Taylor as they were heading to the lake.

Holly was surprised to see Klavier and, after getting a confirmation that she was fine from her friends, flew off with him. Now, they were at the gazebo, and she was _really_ hoping that he'd just ask her out already.

At this point, they knew each other far too well to just be acquaintances. They knew each other's dreams and aspirations, favorite colors, television shows, and foods, about each other's families, and much more.

Klavier eventually decided to try and go for it. What could be the harm? They were alone after all. "Holly, listen. I… _really_ like you. So, I was… Wondering if… You'd want to go out with me…"

Holly smiled softly, her eyes sparkling, flying forward and hugging him. "Of course I will!" she responded happily. A smile grew on Klavier's face as he hugged her back. "I was just waiting for you to ask me; I like you, too…"

The pair slipped away from each other a bit, looking into each other's eyes. Holly flew up, kissing Klavier's cheek, causing him to blush.

 **000**

" **YES!" Klavier cheered. "I did it! I have a girlfriend! Now… I just have to** _ **not**_ **screw up..."**

 **000**

 **Holly giggled, a blush on her face. "He's so cute. I'm so glad that he finally did it! We're together, and now… we'll see what happens now. Relationships are about the journey and connection, right?"**

 **000**

Kojo and Summer held hands as they walked around the island, enjoying each other's company. This was the time that they'd usually just spend being together, away from everyone. As they passed by the washrooms, Summer stopped momentarily, peering at the cracked door.

Kojo rose a brow. "What's up?"

Summer looked down at him with a sultry smirk. "What do you say to a… 'quickie' in the washrooms? I mean, we _should_ shower anyway."

"I showered earlier," Kojo explained, knowing her intentions. "And, what'd we say about pounding while still on this stupid island?"

Summer gave him a look. "Not _that_ kind of quickie. Just what we usually do. Only this time… It'll be both metaphorically _and_ literally steamy…."

Upon hearing that, Kojo froze momentarily. He picked up the badger immediately before carrying her toward the washrooms. He used his foot to open the door before using his tail to grab the knob and shut it back.

He walked toward the shower nearest to the back and took a seat against the wall, with Summer turning on the hot water, as well as a bit of the cold. Immediately, with a bit of the moisture filling the room, as well as a bit of water dripping down from the showerhead, the two locked lips. Kojo wrapped his arms around her back as Summer actually started slinking down a bit for more comfort and better positioning.

Summer pulled herself back, bringing her tongue back into her mouth and licking her lips. Being that she was essentially lying on the ground, as well as the Mienshao, she felt a prodding at her belly and smirked deviously at him.

Kojo blushed, seeing the seductive gaze as the Typhlosion moved down lower. He looked around, gulping in fear, and noticed the small red lights at each corner of the washroom. "Babe… we talked about this… there are cameras in here!"

Summer's eyes widened as she lifted herself back up and looked around. "Where?"

"In the stupid corners…" Kojo replied grumpily, folding his arms.

The temptation to just unleash their urges was pretty high at this point, but they needed to calm themselves. Neither of them wanted to be on a porn site. Summer already was due to a few offscreen moments with Ray during the second season, but Kojo was relatively clean due to his lack of partners. However, due to his celebrity status, if this got onto a porn site, it would make headlines as a sex tape!

Summer groaned in frustration as she turned off the water and turned around in his lap. Kojo kissed her neck before nuzzling her, wanting to lighten her mood. "Don't worry, Summer. I promise, when we're out of here, I'll be sure to _ravage_ you…"

Summer smirked upon hearing that before giggling. "Well, I look forward to it," she remarked as she kissed him.

"So you guys still aren't official, huh?" A disembodied voice commented, startling the couple.

Two pale, pinkish hands gripped onto the side of the shower cubicle next to them. It was Phill! The Raticate had seemingly slipped into the washroom and into the cube while the couple was busy, well coupling.

"When the hell did you get in here!?" the Mienshao asked in an irritated tone. Summer's neck flames ignited, an unamused glare on her face as she kept her seat in her man's lap.

"Oh, I followed you guys," he admitted nonchalantly.

"What?!" Summer growled, getting to her feet, her fists clenched. She grabbed the rat by the whiskers. "You were _spying_ on us!?"

"Owowowowow!" Phill yelled in pain as he was lifted up by his vibrissae. "Kojo! A little help, please!"

The Martial Arts Pokemon rolled his eyes, getting onto his own feet. "Come on sweetie, put him down. He's one of the only friends that I have here other than you and Klavier…"

Listening to her significant other, Summer tightened her glare at that Raticate and dropped him onto the moist blue tiles of the washroom they were in. "Don't… do it again…" she threatened.

"No promises," Phill replied, rubbing his cheeks. "This was my only time and it was because I was bored…"

Kojo sighed. "Well, I hope you enjoyed the show, because you're not gonna be seeing it again…"

"What? You two aren't gonna show affection just because I followed you into the boy's washroom?" Phill queried sarcastically.

"Of course not!" Summer exclaimed, folding her arms. "It's just… a bit frustrating not being able to _really_ fool around because of these fucking cameras. I don't want to be on a fucking porn site because of Victini, but I wouldn't mind performing some of those acts that you see there, either…" she mumbled to herself.

"And that is why you're my queen," Kojo said, holding her close, having heard her comment. The two of them smiled at each other. "I love you…"

"I love you, too…" Summer responded.

"Aww…." Phill cooed. "If only I wasn't an ugly bastard. Maybe I could have someone like that…"

Kojo chuckled, picking up the Typhlosion once again, which she had come to enjoy. Not only was it fun, romantic, and established his strength, she just felt so secure and safe in his arms.

"Come on, let's head to the cabins for a bit," he suggested, making Summer shudder in his arms. The mustelid turned to his rodent pal. "Phill, why don't you go check on Klavier and see if he's actually gone through with his plan?"

Saying that, the couple started walking out of the washrooms, leaving the Mouse Pokemon alone. "Hmm… I suppose he's right. Klavier's quest for a girlfriend _is_ a bit more interesting…"

The Raticate scampered out of the room.

 **000**

Shine and Ace were sitting at the edge of the cliff. Ace looked over the edge, staring at the jagged rocks below, making him wince. "Well, falling from here would most definitely cause death…"

Shine shrugged. "Possibly. I mean, we all have eternal youth and are essentially immortal now. However, falling from here would definitely hurt _a lot_ …"

"But, I thought you said we were immortal…" Ace replied, raising a brow.

"We are. That doesn't mean we can't feel pain…" Shine explained. "We just can't die or _really_ age unless you decide to keep track of your own age."

Ace sat beside her in silence for a while, with the Espeon staring at the clouds in the sky. Recalling a few insults that Farra flung in her direction, Ace grew a bit more curious. He didn't know if he would strike a nerve or not, but he decided to go through with it.

"Shine… can I ask you something?" Ace queried.

"Sure," Shine replied with a shrug.

"Uh… if you had another choice, or the opportunity to… would you leave Shade?" he asked.

Shine rose a brow. What was bringing _this_ on? "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just thinking about what Farra was saying… and it piqued my interest," Ace explained. "I know you said that he's an entirely different person outside of the game, but… would you still stay with him if he wasn't?"

Shine sighed. "People really don't seem to fucking get it…" she stated, irritation in her voice.

"Get what?"

"Shade and I have talked about our relationship ever since the 'murderous' side of him came out and we got married!" Shine exclaimed. "He has told me numerous times that if I ever felt threatened, unsatisfied, fearful, or tired of him, that he wouldn't blame me if I left! Our marriage isn't forced or unnatural! I _want_ to be with him! Shit in this game brings out the worst in him and his sadistic father doesn't make it any better with his random visits and letters!"

Ace looked down; he _did_ strike a nerve.

"So, sorry if this too blunt, but I feel that you should just mind your own business. People always want to talk shit, question my choices, and call me a moron for being with him and then say that I deserve better when he's given me more love and security than I can ever imagine!" Shine exclaimed.

The Sylveon expected this, and in the back of his mind, he was astounded at the fact that Shade was actually giving her reasons to leave him! He felt bad for bringing up the topic, especially upon glancing at the Espeon's face. Tears had started to form and stream down her cheeks, a stern look still on her face as she breathed shallowly.

Using a ribbon, he hesitantly touched her shoulder. "I… I'm sorry Shine. I didn't mean to make you cry…"

The Espeon took a deep breath before breathing it back shakily. She continued taking these breaths until she calmed herself down and wiped her eyes. "It's fine," she responded, continuing to stare out at the sea.

 **-000-**

After asking around, Aura finally got the location of Shine. She was extremely hesitant about talking to the serious Espeon. It just didn't seem normal or beneficial to her, trying to engage in casual conversation with the wife of her daughter's father.

But, after some encouragement and pushing from Aspen, the shiny Glaceon decided to follow through and at the very least, _try_.

Climbing up the cliffside, Aura took note of a figure heading down the cliff. It was pointless to continue walking up if someone was coming down.

Upon closer inspection, she saw that it wasn't Shine.

Ace, who was heading down with a glum expression, noticed Aura and glared daggers at her, stopping in place.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Expecting this response from him, Aura sighed. "Listen, I'm not here to start an argument, I just need to talk to Shine…"

Scoffing, Ace gave her a look of disbelief. Why would she need to talk to Shine? "What do you need to talk to her about?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Aura replied, passing by him.

Ace growled. "Well, she doesn't want to talk to anyone right now. I ended up upsetting her, and I sincerely doubt that she'll want to speak with _you_."

The Sylveon continued walking down the cliff, with Aura watching him as he did so. Hearing that she was in a poor mood made her groan in annoyance. She just wanted to talk, ease the tension between them, and move on with her life.

Despite Ace's warning, Aura continued up the cliff, wanting to go ahead and complete her quest.

 **-000-**

Shine was now lying down on the edge of the cliff, resting. After telling Ace to leave her alone, she just remained silent in thought.

Hearing the padding of paws behind her, Shine sighed. "Ace, I told you to leave me alone for a whi-"

As she turned around, her eyes tightened in a glare upon seeing who it was. She didn't know why the Fresh Snow Pokemon was in her presence; it didn't make any sense.

She turned back around with a huff. "What the fuck do you want, Aura? I'm not exactly in the brightest of moods right now."

The Glaceon took a breath. "Look," she said, approaching her. "I know that you and I aren't friends or even acquaintances in the slightest. _And_ , I also know that you're never going to forgive me for anything, no matter I do…"

She lied down next to her, a good distance away. "But, I want us to be able to cooperate. Not get along, just… be able to be in the same vicinity without flinging insults back and forth…"

Shine rose a brow. Aura was actually trying to take the high road? This was a pretty bewildering experience. "Are you feeling okay? You actually sound civil and serious…"

"I _am_ being civil and serious," Aura replied.

Shine gave her a look of distrust. There was no way that she was willingly doing this. She had to be either planning something or getting something out of it. "Tell me the truth…" she stated exasperatedly. "I know damn well that you aren't doing this willingly. Who put you up to this?"

Aura groaned. "Why can't you just accept my apology so we can move on and not get in each other's way?"

"Because as far as I know, you could be planning something that'll turn my team against me…" Shine growled.

Aura gave her a look. "You really that I'm _that_ impactful? Majority of the people on your team barely acknowledge me in a positive way. Even if I _was_ planning something, which I'm not, I doubt anyone would pay me any mind…"

Shine, despite her hesitance to believe her, sighed. Aura was a nuisance, sure, but… Shine supposed that having closure would make her fellow Eeveelution seem like less of a bitch. "Fine. If you're able to stop mentioning what you've done like you're hot shit, rubbing in the fact that I'm infertile, and throwing annoying insults my way, I'm willing to let bygones be bygones…"

With a nod, Aura watched as the Espeon lied back down. She let out a sigh of relief as she started walking back down the cliff.

 **000**

" **Perfect. Now we no longer have to bother each other…" Aura commented. "And… I actually feel… a little bit better. Now I just have to prove myself to be more useful than Freezeo… or at the very least convince them..."**

 **000**

Taylor, Ashton, Amethyst, and Carson were down by the lake. Taylor was in the water, his head resting on the land with a sickly expression on his face. He let out a soft sigh as the others exchanged looks of worry.

"Are you okay, Taylor?" Ashton queried. "You've been acting like this since we got here…"

"Well, I'm not okay, but thanks for asking," the Milotic replied in a glum tone.

"Well, why are you so glum, chum?" Carson asked in curiosity.

"Because I'm a gay, horny bastard who needs to be serviced," Taylor responded sarcastically. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Uh… well, you can…" the Bronzong began to respond, unsure about how to respond to his statement.

Ashton and Amethyst eyed their friend with narrowed eyes; Carson noticed their expressions and grew flustered. "What!? I'm not good at this stuff; you guys know that!"

Amethyst sighed. "What's the _real_ reason you're upset, Taylor?"

"I could ask you the same question," the Milotic retorted. "Why were you so upset and acting weird in previous challenges?"

Amethyst, upon hearing that, shuddered. Her night terrors and daydreams had actually stopped after a while, so she was actually able to start speaking up a tad bit more and behave a bit calmer. Though, with it being brought up again, the image of Sven looming over her entered her mind again. She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, wanting to get it out.

Ashton, being able to ignore insults and not feel much of anything from them, decided to try asking the Tender Pokemon. She had a slight feeling that she knew his problem, but needed the extra push so that she could confirm it. "Taylor, come on now, we're just trying to offer you some advice here. _You_ came to _us_ , so you might as well just tell and get it out in the open."

Taylor scoffed. "What advice could you possibly give me? How to be a stereotypical goody-goody?"

"Well, considering that _I'm_ married, these two are in stable and semi-stable relationships, and Holly is likely getting into her own relationship at this very moment, I'd say that we're probably the best you're going to get," the Meganium explained, her eyes narrowing as she smirked at the Milotic. "Especially since we're the 'stereotypical goody-goodies'; I doubt anyone else would try to offer assistance. No offense…"

Taylor huffed as he blushed a deep crimson. The Herb Pokemon _did_ have a good point; no one else would care in the slightest. "Well, you already know my problem…" he admitted. "I keep thinking about frickin' Connor _and_ other guys, now!"

Ashton nodded; her thoughts were correct. "Well Taylor, it's obvious that Connor wants nothing to do with you _in that way_ as far as we know, and the only other gay person on the island is Ace, but he's taken."

"Don't you think I know that?!" he exclaimed. "It's fucking frustrating being surrounded by guys that are either unattractive, annoying, boring, taken, or just plain… eugh! The only guys that I'm willing to admit that I find or found attractive here, are Sparky, Cano, Kojo, Connor, and Ace for fuck's sake!"

"And they're each either dating or married to someone, except Connor…" Carson spoke up.

The Milotic groaned.

"Okay Taylor, answer this. What type of relationship are you looking for?" Amethyst queried. "Connection-based or strictly sexual?"

Taylor gave her a look. "Oh, I don't know. It's not like I've already been in strictly sexual relationships to have control or anything…" he replied sardonically.

"Okay, so you actually want a connection," Amethyst reasoned, ignoring his sarcasm. "So, don't you think you should just _wait_ until you're out of the game or you meet someone else either in or out of the game?"

"Or, maybe you can just try to establish a connection with Rex…" Carson spoke up.

Taylor laughed. "Please. Rex can't even function without being harmed at _some_ point of the day. He's a good fuck, but nothing more…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that there are over a hundred people in this game," Ashton said. "And there are more guys than girls, so you have a few chances. There's a lot of people you haven't met…"

"Oh, I know…" Taylor replied with a glare. "There are a shit ton of sexy and tolerable guys that aren't in _this_ season… fucking Victini and his bullshit…" the Milotic grumbled.

"I love how you just accepted that you're gay in the last challenge and now you're immediately on the hunt for a boyfriend," Carson chortled. "Such initiative…"

Taylor grumbled to himself. "Well, considering that there's no one here that I'm interested in besides the Kojo, Sparky, and Connor, and two out of three are already in a relationship, I might as well give up for the time being."

"Yeah, that may be the best thing for you to do…" Amethyst replied. "Maybe just focus on the game."

"That's what I intend on doing…" Taylor replied sternly.

 **000**

" **Am I pissed that I can't get a man right this instant?" Taylor rhetorically queried. "Of course not. I already have Connor as an ally; I just want to know if there's anyone available that likes me or** _ **will**_ **like me."**

 **000**

Sally, Lassie, and Marion were sitting on a few rocks on the beach, engaging in a bit of girl talk.

"So, when you got your Mega Stone, did it really enhance you and Jet's love life?" Marion queried. "Dhaunt and I were thinking about getting a couple to see what it's like."

Sally giggled as a blush spread across her face. "Oh-ho yeah. I never felt that good in my life; it was like having an insatiable craving that only gets more intense the more you're given…"

"Really?" Lassie responded with a smirk. "Huh, I wish I was able to have a Mega Stone."

"I swear, I almost _drained_ Jet…" Sally explained with a dirty look before a thought entered her mind. "Ooh, now I understand why there were so many in the Triple X Emporium…"

Lassie and Marion paled, exchanging looks of surprise before looking back at the sheep.

Noticing their expressions, Sally couldn't help but giggle with narrowed eyes. "What? Just because I look frail doesn't mean I am…"

"Well, Dhaunt and I don't really fool around often… This would just be for those times that we do and we want a bit more to it…" Marion explained.

"Well, I recommend it. I use mine seven times a month…" Sally revealed with a titter.

"Wow… You are _definitely_ going to end up getting pregnant soon if you guys keep it up," Lassie replied, hearing that.

Sally shrugged. "We'll live. We plan to have just two kids anyway, no big deal. So, what about you?"

"Hmm?" Lassie hummed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Do _you_ have any specialties that you do to service your man?"

"Uh, Sally. Egridos and I are getting a divorce, so I don't really want to talk about it…"

Sally's eyes widened in shock. However, she seemed to be fine with it, as she didn't really think they meshed together anyway. "Well, that's upsetting…" she replied. "Uh… I know you said that you don't want to talk about it, but what brought this on?"

"Essentially, Egridos was being a neglectful husband and overall annoyance who lost love for her…" Marion explained nonchalantly.

"Marion!"

"What? You said that _you_ didn't want to talk about it…" Marion reminded, making Lassie sigh in exasperation.

"Well, if he was acting like a major dickhead, I see why you want a divorce. I wouldn't be able to deal with it, either…" Sally responded.

"Look, let's just drop it, okay?" Lassie responded.

"If you say so…" Marion said with a shrug as Sally folded her arms.

"CONTESTANTS! IT'S TIME TO WATCH YOUR PAIN! MEET US AT THE VOLCANO!"

"The volcano?" Lassie groaned. "Great…"

 **000**

Everyone trekked to the large, magma-filled mountain. In the back of all of their minds, they knew that this challenge was going to be awful. As they approached the massive crust rupture, they felt a heat wave wash over them.

Getting closer, the contestants couldn't help but notice that black smoke was coming from the top of the volcano. This caused a bit of anxiety to spread around as they forced themselves to the base of the heated landmass.

Eventually, after circling around a bit, they all found the two hosts floating next to a checkered flag, which was placed inside of a pylon.

Once they all gathered around, Victini smirked. "Welcome to the site of your next challenge!" he greeted.

"A mountain that is as hot as Magcargo shit. _Great choice…_ " Fez commented sarcastically.

"Hey, uh… Lugias, it seems like you're missing a player," Victini took note.

Looking around, the Lugias noticed that Vixen wasn't there. Sparky hid his sneer, while Frosty sighed softly.

"Um, we don't know where she went, but she was with us earlier," Sola explained, looking around.

"Well, you'd better hope she gets here soon, because if not, you guys are automatically heading to elimination, and you STILL have to participate in today's hurt-acular challenge," Victini chuckled.

"Hurt-acular?" Freezeo repeated tonelessly. "Seriously?"

"Hush…" Victini replied simply.

A few seconds later, rustling was heard in the bushes, making everyone turn to the source. A golden paw emerged from the bushes first, before the whole figure was able to be made out. Vixen exited the brush, a furious glare on her face as her tails were raised up.

Sparky found himself being lifted up before being thrown against the volcano. Vixen immediately rushed over to him as he groaned, attempting to get to his feet.

She blasted a Flamethrower at him, causing him to roar out in pain.

"VIXEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Shine exclaimed.

"This sick fucker forced himself on me!" she yelled back as she slammed her paw on his own, causing him to shout out in pain.

"WHAT?!" Nearly everyone exclaimed in disbelief.

"Vixen… What are you talking about?" Sparky groaned. In response, she snarled and used Fire Blast on him, causing him to roar out louder.

Frosty was in shock. She was doing what Sparky said she would… even after he gave her what she wanted! This needed to stop.

"That doesn't make any fucking sense! Sparky was always adamant that she liked you as a sister and nothing more!" Sola chimed in.

"Oh please, it was inevitable," Egridos spoke, rolling his eyes. "Psycho brain fuck up plus sexy fox plus annoying rumors and insults equals 'OH NO! SEX!'"

"CAN YOU TAKE THIS A BIT MORE SERIOUS!?" Lassie exclaimed. "Rape accusations aren't something you just brush off, asshole!"

"Pssh! Whatever…" Egridos retorted, rolling his eyes. "I don't advocate the shit, but in my eyes, I don't see. I think that they fucked on purpose, this bitch regrets it, and she's now calling rape like some other crazy girls do…"

"No…" Frosty started, getting everyone's attention, as Vixen was pulled away by Shine and Ace. "I saw them…"

"Wait… what do you mean you saw them?" Mew queried, unable to believe what was going on. Victini, on the other hand, held a smile, as he had already seen what went down on the cameras. He expected this to come out after the challenge, but this was just as entertaining.

"Well, I was floating around and I heard groaning coming from the woods. I followed the sound, and I saw that Vixen was lying against Sparky, asleep, and Sparky had a panicked look on his face. Then he told me that _she_ came onto _him_ out of desperation and annoyance with the rumors and game…"

"So, she _is_ a cheating slut. Even more confirmation…" Sabrina spat venomously.

"You actually believe him!?" Vixen exclaimed.

"Well, considering that you already have a track record of minor infidelity and promiscuity… and the fact that you've been looking sad lately… I'm a bit inclined to believe it..." Annie spoke up.

"Come ON!" Vixen exclaimed, turning to Sparky, who was being helped up by Sola. "He's fucked up in the head right now and you guys are taking his side?!"

"And how do _you_ know that he's messed up in the head?" Victini chimed in. "I mean… I know that he's related to murderous Shade and dictator Demenio, but, that doesn't mean that _he's_ messed up. Sounds to me like you're just trying to make up excuses…"

Vixen gaped.

"Yeah, it _does_ look that way…" Phill spoke up. "Wow, can't believe that what's been said about you is really true…"

"IT'S NOT!" Vixen growled. "You have the fucking camera footage of what happened, Victini! Review it!"

"Uh… you realize that some of these cameras are just for show, right?" he lied. "I use them to instill a bit more fear into you losers…"

"S-So you-" Vixen started tearing up.

"Aww… look, she's crying for sympathy…" Sabrina commented. "Pathetic. You cheat; you take your lumps…"

"I DIDN'T CHEAT!" the Ninetales yelped.

"Whatever…" Victini spoke up. "I'm getting bored of this conversation already. Vixen's a cheating slut, it's been established. She just added more fuel to the fire. AND, speaking of fire, your next challenge is going to be dealing with a LOT of it!"

"Wait, so we're just going to igno-"

"Yes Carson, yes we are…" Victini replied, already knowing what the bell was going to say.

Mew was very suspicious about the claims. Looking at Vixen's sobbing form as she moved away from everyone, he turned to Sparky, who had burn marks and bruises on him, and noticed a small smirk on his face. He internally sighed. " _Idiots…_ " he thought in his head.

"Now, your first part of the challenge involves making it to the top of this volcano!" Victini explained. "Each team will begin their climb up this volcano, while trying to collect as many Lava Cookies as you can…"

"Wait, didn't we already do that in World Tour?" Morgan spoke up.

"Nice observation, kitty," Victini remarked. "This challenge is an homage to that one. The team that collects to most cookies on the way up the volcano gets an advantage in the second part of the challenge."

"Wait, what happens if one team gets up faster than the other?" Sally questioned.

"Well, since it'd be unfair to let the other team continue, they will be teleported up as well…" Victini explained.

"Uh… do we get anything to keep us from burning our paws?" Aspen queried.

"Of course not…" Victini replied, chuckling. "What would be challenging about giving you all something that'll comfort you?"

Everyone groaned.

"Now, make it up the volcano and collect the cookies. No flying and no ghost- or psychic-type moves to help you out, either," Victini restated. "Your challenge starts… now!"

Mew and Victini teleported away immediately, leaving both teams alone at the bottom of the volcano.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs immediately took off to the left, not wanting to be in the same area as their opponents.

"Alright, we have a ways to go to get up this thing," Marie said, looking up at the volcano as they got a far enough distance away. The hot, craggy landform was beckoning to them. "Any ideas?"

"Well, they said no flying, and the usual no psychic or ghost-related bullshit…" Summer spoke up. "So, I think anything else is fair game…"

"Behold! My triumph!" Brian exclaimed, holding up a coil-like ray. It was cylindrical, with two buttons on the side, one pink and one blue. The opening end of it resembled a net launcher, however there was no such material over it. Instead, there was a small, floating blue orb.

"Brian, what the hell is that?" Pia queried, narrowing her eyes at the device.

"This devastating device fires a barrage of orbs toward a subject before detonating! The chaos that I will be able to cause with this will be stupendous!" he exclaimed.

"Why the hell do you have that with you?" Phill queried, facepalming. "Unless you're blowing up their side of the volcano, what is the purpose?"

"Silence, fool!" Brian replied. "Watch as pure evil makes its mark!"

The Reuniclus held down the blue button of his device, sending a barrage of hard, blue orbs toward a group of trees. Once the balloons made contact, they began to swell around the tree before finally detonating, completely breaking the tree and causing the slightly intact pieces to tilt against the volcano.

Brian gaped in awe. An invention of his actually worked correctly on the first try, which didn't happen too often!

"Yes! I am close to becoming a true, diabolical mastermind! Mwahahahahaha!" he laughed, only to be smacked by Sabrina.

"Enough with the evil bullshit. We need to focus on the challenge for fuck's sake!"

"Jeez Sabrina, what's your problem?" Anthony queried. "The idiot actually made a decent pathway for us."

"It's only a couple of kilometers up…" Cramad stated. "I don't think that covers the remaining distance…"

"Well, we have three ice-types, two water-types, and a spider with durable thread," Marion said, patting Titan's back. "I think we have a pretty good chance of finishing this quickly…"

"We still have to look for Lava Cookies on the way up, remember?" Freezeo chimed in, looking up at the volcano nervously. "So, it may take longer than we think."

"Well, what if we get have Titan climb all the way to the top, spit a thread down, and we can use it like a rope to climb up that way?" Aura suggested. "And on the way, Marie and Anthony can keep our feet cool."

"Hmm… not a bad plan," Summer said, putting on a thinking face. "But doing it would mean ignoring the cookies…"

"Why don't the people that are going to be useless in collecting the cookies go all the way to the top, and the rest of us come up gradually with cookies we're able to retrieve?" Klavier suggested. "There weren't any rules against it."

"That… makes sense," Fez remarked. "But who exactly fits into that category?"

"Well… I'd say you and Sabrina, since the cookies would be in your talons and they would crumble as you climbed, and Freezeo, Brian, and Lassie, because they mainly float to get around," Klavier explained.

"Hey, just because I'm able to fly doesn't mean I can't handle holding a fucking cookie!" Sabrina spoke up, feeling offended.

"Uh… okay. If you say so," Klavier replied with a shrug. "So, that leaves us with… thirteen people who can collect cookies while the others wait up top. Titan? You think you can do it?"

"Don't worry mate, I'll be fine," Titan stated as he walked toward the volcano and started heading up.

 **000**

While the Ho-Ohs were talking things over in order to plan ahead, the Lugias decided to just move forward and start climbing.

The only ones who hadn't moved were Morgan, Shine, Sola, and Vixen. The other three girls were surrounding the fox, who was lying down, saddened from the lack of trust from the others. However, the girls were a bit perturbed at the accusation set forth by the Fox Pokemon.

"Vixen… what the hell was that all about?" Morgan queried in a stern tone. "Is what Frosty said true?"

"Of course it isn't!" Vixen exclaimed. "I'd never willingly sleep with Sparky in _any_ setting! I don't even know why Frosty is saying anything since I didn't even see him around when I was screaming for help!"

"Okay, start from the beginning," Shine stated. "What happened?"

Vixen sighed. "Okay, while we were in the gym, Sparky came in and asked if we could talk outside in private."

"Alright, so _that's_ where you went," Sola reasoned. "What happened then?"

"Well, he led me to some clearing. Then, I asked him if he was okay and he told me about all of the bullshit that's happened to him. Then, he stroked my back with his tail…"

"What? That's-"

"Not like him, right?!" Vixen exclaimed. "That's what I thought, too. I asked him what he was doing, then he brought up the fact that he and I are always the ones in the compromising positions together. Then, when I reminded him of Cano and Luna, he said that they weren't here and he kissed me!"

"Fuck… that's like what Demenio was doing to Ricky to manipulate him…" Sola reminded as she started pacing back and forth.

"So after that, I used Flamethrower in his mouth and I ran. But… he caught up with me, pinned me down, spread my legs and started choking me. Then… I blacked out."

The girls exchanged shocked expressions. Given that information, and knowing the mental issues of the Volkratus brothers, it could easily be assumed that she was telling the truth. But, opinions and bias always rule over facts, so it was quite likely that no one else would believe them.

"Well, don't worry Vixen... now we know that we need to watch out for Sparky and vote him out soon," Morgan, said rubbing the sobbing fox's back.

 **000**

 **Morgan let out a disappointed sigh. "And our alliance will shrink once again."**

 **000**

Holly, Amethyst, Ashton, and Carson stuck by close to each other. The intense heat from the volcano was making them all light-headed, especially since all of them, minus Holly, were weak against fire and heat.

In the midst of their climb, curiosity overcame Ashton as she pulled herself up onto a higher area with her vines. "So, Holly, how'd things go with Klavier?" she asked downwards as Holly slowly made her way up.

The Swoobat blushed as she continued walking up the side of the rocky foundation. She was a bit more focused on getting to the top than divulging her and Klavier's relationship, so she decided to just hold it off for now.

"Can we talk about it later? My head is starting to pound because of this heat?" the Courting Pokemon replied as she continued up.

Ashton looked down to her right and saw Amethyst having a bit of trouble making it up. Using her vines, she reached downwards, wrapping her vines around the the fossil Pokemon before hoisting her up.

Carson panted and winced as he used his technique: embedding his arms into the mountainside and slowly pulling himself up.

"Ugh…" he groaned. "This sucks so bad!"

"Come on Carson, you can do it!" Ashton called down.

"Can _I_ get a little help down here, please?!" he called back in response.

Ashton, after bringing Amethyst up to her same level, decided to go ahead and do the same for Holly and Carson. She lowered her vines, wrapping each of them around a friend before hoisting them up as well. Holly was relatively light and easy to lift, while Carson was extremely hard, as he was over 400 pounds.

Once she brought up Holly, she had to use that same vine to aid in helping up Carson. As he was dragged up the side of the volcano, the bell noticed something circular jutting out from the side of the volcano. His eyes widened as he turned to the opposing side and saw three other circular structures jutting out of the volcano's side.

As he was finally brought up, he peered back down. "Guys, I saw like… four Lava Cookies on the way up here!"

"Really?" Amethyst queried. "Where?"

"Um… there were three on this side," he said, pointing to his left. "And the was another one on the other side."

Ashton gazed over the edge and noticed a few of the cookies, herself. She was surprised, as she didn't see them on her way up. Likely due to her wanting to focus on making it up onto a stable platform. Using the vines, she started grabbing the cookies.

As she did this, Carson grew a bit puzzled, beginning to think about the accusations made by Vixen. "So, uh…. What do you guys think about the situation that happened down there?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Amethyst responded.

"Yeah, we weren't there, therefore we can't make any real judgments," Holly added. "And overall it's such a despicable thing to think about…"

"We don't know the true story. Remember, Sparky just _told_ Frosty that…" Ashton said, bringing up the cookies. "We'll cross the bridge when we come to it; let's just focus on the challenge right now..."

The others exchanged looks before nodding in agreement.

 **-000-**

Ace used his ribbons to help pull himself higher, while also grabbing Lava Cookies that he came upon. As he pulled himself up higher, he was able to see the Ho-Ohs vaguely beyond a few trees, including a broken one that was leaning against the volcano.

"Hmm…" he hummed in thought as he watched Titan climb up alone. The Sylveon rose a brow in curiosity before hearing a voice near him. Looking down to the left, he saw Sally dangling from a branch.

"A little help here!" Sally exclaimed. She had made it higher up, but she ended up slipping after trying to yank a Lava Cookie out of the side of the volcano.

Ace used his ribbons to reach down toward her. She grabbed his ribbon and he pulled her up onto the same level as him. The sheep sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem…" Ace responded, his eyes focused on Titan's retreating form.

Sally, seeing his gaze, looked upward and saw that the Galvantula was making his way up the volcano. It was rather peculiar that none of his teammates were with him or even making an attempt to climb up. She grew a bit suspicious.

"You seeing the same thing as me?" she asked the Intertwining Pokemon, despite already knowing the answer.

"Yep…" he responded, his eyes returning back to where the remaining Ho-Ohs were sitting. "I don't know what they're doing, but they've definitely got something planned."

"Come on," Sally stated as she started climbing the hot mountainside again. "Whatever they're doing, we don't want to just sit here and wait. Titan's passing by a lot of cookies, so it's obvious that he isn't just abandoning them…"

"Yeah…" Ace replied, taking a couple of steps back and looking up. He noticed that, going up, the volcano had a few 'stairs' and protrusions jutting from it that almost made up a decent pathway.

He pressed his forepaws against the rocky landform and reached up onto a miniature ledge that seemed only able to fit small appendages or parts of larger ones.

He hoisted himself up, using his ribbon to grab onto another branch sticking out of the volcano. However, upon grabbing it, the rocks around the branch crumbled, releasing the branch and causing a bit of magma to seep out of the hole, becoming lava.

Ace gasped as he slid back down. "Shit, shit, shit! Watch out!" he yelled downwards as the lava started oozing down.

 **000**

Titan was humming to himself as he climbed the side of the volcano. His team's plan sounded smart on paper, but there was always a chance that things could go wrong. He could have sworn that he saw Ace, Sally, and a few other members of the Lugias looking at him from their side.

The Galvantula gazed upwards, as he was getting closer to the top already. He noticed numerous Lava Cookies jutting out from the side of the volcano on his way up, but he was focused on just getting up to the top.

After a few minutes, the the EleSpider Pokemon made it up to the summit. He sighed in relief before coughing from the high influx of smoke coming from the volcano. The ash-filled smog was irritating him.

"Jeez, is this thing about to erupt or something?" Titan coughed out as he was approached by Victini and Mew.

"Congratulations Titan. You're the first one to make it up here," Victini commended. "Sadly, it means nothing since you aren't here with your team…"

Titan rolled his eyes. "Victini, you can screw off," he remarked. "It's part of a plan."

Titan went back toward the edge of the volcano and peered down, gazing at the far distance between the summit and the base of the volcano. "Whew. That _is_ a long way down."

"Hey, you're from the down under, you should be fine…" Victini stated as Mew rolled his eyes.

Titan grumbled to himself before beginning to decide a precise enough angle in order for the others to climb. However, in doing so, he realized that they likely wouldn't be able to reach the side of the mountain in order to gather the cookies. He swore to himself.

He would have to figure out another way to help them, if he could.

 **-000-**

"Alright, he's up there. He should be shooting the string down here by now…" Lassie said, gazing up at the top of the volcano.

"Something must be wrong…" Cramad remarked, looking up as well.

"Well, whatever it is, he'd better fix it and send the thread down before the other team makes it up!" Sabrina expressed. "We don't have time for this!"

"Sabrina! Will you calm yourself down!?" Fez snapped. "Jeez, if there's a problem up there, how the hell do you expect him to do anything?!"

In response, Sabrina kicked him in the face, causing him to stagger back a bit. "Don't you _ever_ yell at me again, you got me?"

Fez glowered at the Staraptor; her immaturity was _really_ becoming a thorn in his side. He felt his beak and felt that there was liquid oozing from his beak.

"Okay, Sabrina, you _really_ need to calm down," Aura stated. "If Titan's in trouble up there or Victini's hindering him from helping, we need to just head up."

"Oh shut up, homewrecker," Sabrina remarked venomously. "You don't get to make a comment after all the shit you've pulled and how utterly useless you've been…"

"Hey! At least she's trying, now," Aspen chimed in. "Just because _you_ have a grudge on anyone who cheats on their partner doesn't mean you can take it out on us! Whether you like it or not, we're a fucking team!"

"I never thought I'd say this, but Aspen's right," Annie said, wiping a few beads of sweat from her head. "We're a team; we can't keep on having these problems. We need to focus on the challenge, and if Titan is unable to help, we just have to go up alone…"

Sabrina growled to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, they had a point. And, with how she's been behaving, if they lost, she'd end up in the bottom! Despite her vexation toward Fez and those telling her to calm down, she had to oblige in order to avoid further quarrels.

"Fine," she huffed, brushing her hair to the side a bit. "What do you guys suggest, then?"

"Uh… climbing?" Dhaunt said nonchalantly, pointing to the volcano. "We'll just have to get the cookies whenever they're close to us…"

Just then, a thread zoomed down, striking a portion of the broken tree that was leaning against the volcano.

"Finally…" Brian commented, rolling his eyes as he floated toward the tree.

"Wait… why didn't he just shoot the string straight down here?" Anthony queried in confusion. "Wouldn't that have made more sense?"

"It _would_ have, but… let's not dwell on what _could_ have been," Pia stated. "Fez, Freezeo, and the rest of you Klavier said, head on up. We'll be behind you…"

The small designated group started heading toward the tree.

"Hmm… if only we had some sort of bag. We'd be able to carry the cookies much easier…" Phill said. "They'll end up crumbling in our hands as we go up, otherwise…"

"Damn it, why the hell do things have to be so fucking difficult?!" Summer cursed before taking a breath. "Okay, we'll need to have a designated cookie collector or something…"

Freezeo looked to Brian, who was polishing his weapon with a glossy leaf. The Cryogonal wanted nothing to do with the wannabe villain, but what if he could reprogram his weapon to do something that'll help solve their problem? It was worth a shot.

"Uh, Brian, what does the pink button on your device do?" Freezeo curiously queried, having noticed that the self-proclaimed evil genius had only pressed the blue button to fire the bubbles.

Brian chortled. "The pink function of this device begets intense suction that turns into shrapnel for my bubbles!"

"Suction!?" Pia exclaimed. "That can help us out in the challenge!"

"Yeah, but did you guys hear what _happens_ to the things that are suctioned into that thing?" Marie queried. "Even if we collected them, I doubt that Dictini would count them if they're shrapnel…"

The others were inclined to agree with her, knowing how unfair Victini was in these challenges. An idea sprung up in Aura's head.

"Well, what if Brian can modify it so that it only suctions up the cookies?" the Glaceon suggested.

"And what makes you think that I will be willing to disassemble one of my functioning devices for such a perverse challenge?" Brian queried, hugging his weapon.

"Because if you don't, we'll kick your ass and _then_ vote for you…" Lassie threatened.

"My thoughts exactly," Sabrina squawked in agreement.

Aura, upon hearing that, could just internally sigh in relief. "Brian, just do it! You can make it do your evil stuff again once we're finished…"

Brian groaned. "Fine," he replied. "But I will need to return back to my lair in order to do work…"

"Oh come on!" Dhaunt exclaimed, pointing toward to the top right. "The other team is nearly halfway up there by now!"

Looking up, the Ho-Ohs saw that the Gengar was right. A fair amount of the Lugias were making good time as they made their way up the volcano.

"Crap… Brian, blast them!" Pia shouted.

"WHAT!?" almost everyone shouted.

Brian didn't hesitate, blasting numerous bubbles in the Lugias' direction.

 **000**

Egridos, who had been doing well and stayed focused on climbing, couldn't help but feel a sense of danger. Turning to the side, his eyes widened as he saw a barrage of orbs heading their way.

"Shit!"

An intense thunderbolt blasted toward the orbs, causing them to explode in the air. The impact of the blast caused more cracks to form on the volcano side.

Egridos looked behind him and saw Sparky continuing to climb up. "Keep moving. I don't know what the hell that was, but I'd rather not stick around to find out."

Egridos nodded and continued to climb up. In his mind, he didn't care about the lion or anyone related to him, nor did he care about the others on his team. But, despite his lack of care for the others, what they did was still entertaining to him.

As he continued to climb up, Egridos yanked out three cookies, putting them inside of his body before closing himself again. He climbed up higher, eventually reaching the Luxray, who was taking a short break, panting.

"So, Mufasa…" he started, making Sparky glare daggers at him. The lion didn't really care for the coffin's bullshit. He could tell from his tone of voice that what he was about to say was going to be idiotic or personal.

"What do you want, Egridos?" he asked as he started climbing up again.

"Oh, it's nothing special," the Coffin Pokemon replied. "Just curious. Who was better?"

Sparky growled, stopping briefly. "I plead the fifth… Now fuck off, if you don't mind. I already want to forget what happened…"

"Yeah, _sure_ you do…" Egridos responded, rolling his eyes as he continued up.

Sparky froze in place, glaring at the coffin as he continued climbing up. Using his claws, he climbed up ahead and blocked the ghost's path. "What are you insinuating?" he snarled.

"Come on, even if you claim you didn't want to, why the hell would you just want to forget that you fucked a hot piece of ass like that?" Egridos queried. "Even if she may be a bit… well a _lot,_ loose…"

Sparky growled. "Vixen is like a sister to me… I wouldn't do this bullshit!"

"Well, she obviously thinks of you as more than a brother-in-law…" Egridos replied, continuing to climb up and around the lion.

Sparky huffed as the coffin continued heading up.

 **000**

" **Here's the thing… I prefer Luna in every fucking way. She doesn't do much, she is a great cook, she's awesome when we go out together... Hell, she's** _ **wild**_ **when she's with me!" Sparky explained. "Vixen's hot, sure, but… ever since the bullshit happened with her, she and Cano have just been depressed, boring messes."**

 **He chuckled. "Well, let's see what happens after this…"**

 **000**

With aid from Connor, Taylor was able to get up higher and higher. His tail was in Connor's mouth, which caused a bit of pain initially, but he was able to get over it.

Connor struggled to climb up the volcano holding the larger Pokemon. He already wasn't that good considering that there wasn't much room for him to move this time around.

Taylor, growing agitated as he continued hitting his head against the volcano, told Connor to stop. "Connor! Stop it, please. I think I have a better idea…"

Connor pulled him up onto a higher level before stopping to catch his breath and get the fishy taste out of his mouth.

"Okay, I think I have a plan that'll get us to the top… or at the very least close to it…" Taylor explained, getting Connor's attention.

"It doesn't involve making us kiss does it?"

Taylor blushed. "WHAT?! NO!"

"Okay, good. What were you saying?"

Taylor scoffed. "I'll use Hydro Pump on the ground and see if It can propel us upwards…" he explained.

The Bouffalant raised a brow, a bit skeptical about the Milotic's idea. "I'm not so sure if that'll work. That'd take a ton of pressure and-"

"Hey, Anthony was able to blast his entire team's boat all the way back to this island using Hydro Pump, so-"

"That's because his cannons are powerful!" Connor interrupted. "Listen babe, you need to just listen to me so we can finish this stupid challenge!"

Taylor's face flushed as beads of sweat began to drip own his face. "D-Did you just call me b-babe?" he stuttered, completely flustered.

Connor blanched. There was no way that he said that. It just slipped out! "Uh, no. You must have misheard me… I said, uh… _Gabe_ , not babe," he lied, chuckling panickedly.

"Why would you call me-"

"Whoa, would you look at the time? We have to keep climbing and not talk about this any longer," Connor replied before attempting to start climbing up again, only to almost fall back. He was caught by Taylor, who still had a blush on his face, only this time it was accompanied by a glare.

"Uh…"

Taylor immediately kissed the Bouffalant, causing him to panic a bit in his head.

 **000**

 **Connor was banging his head against the confessional walls, causing numerous holes to form. "Fuck my life. Fuck my life. All of these guys with their relationships and togetherness! I can't believe I called Taylor a babe. Sure, he's attractive, but come on!"**

" **I can't believe my first kiss was with a dude just because of a slip of the tongue… OH ARCEUS WHY DID I SAY THAT?!"**

 **000**

 **Taylor took a breath. "Okay. That was a** _ **big**_ **no-no on my part. He knows how I'm feeling right now! He can't just say that and expect me not to come back with something!"**

" **Ugh… Arceus, things are going to be even more awkward, now aren't they?"**

 **000**

Kojo dodged more exploding bubbles coming from the left, launching a Focus Blast toward them, causing them to absorb the attack and expand. "What the hell?!"

Frosty, who was being held by Kojo by his tail, panicked. "Do something!"

"I just tried! _You_ do something!" the Mienshao shouted back as he continued to climb.

Frosty used Ice Beam. The attack struck the numerous bubbles, leaving them frozen in mid-air. Kojo was confused as to where they were coming from. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that the other team was the cause.

They _had_ disappeared to the left after all. "Hmm… I think these things are coming from the other team…"

"If they are, how the hell _are_ they?" Frosty queried.

"I don't know, but I think we need to just keep moving," Kojo replied as he continued pulling himself up. "Man, this challenge sucks…"

"Yeah…" Frosty replied with a sigh.

After a few minutes of grunting from Kojo, as he kept pulling him up, Frosty decided to start talking to Kojo. Maybe they could have some kind of allegiance. Each of them was alone on their team now, after all.

"Uh… Kojo?"

Hearing his name be called, the Martial Arts Pokemon stopped climbing momentarily and stared down, moving his tail to the side so that he could see the ice-type. "What is it?"

"Um… Would you be interested in an alliance with me by any chance?" the Snowstorm Pokemon queried. With both Farra and Striker gone, he was practically a sitting Ducklett.

Kojo was surprised to hear the Vanilluxe ask that. But then again, he had just aided in eliminating his last ally, so it wasn't _that_ much of a surprise.

The Mienshao gazed thoughtfully at the Vanilluxe, as an alliance wasn't that bad of an idea.

"Alright. I guess it couldn't be that bad…" Kojo replied.

"Really?!"

"Sure. What's the harm?" Kojo said with a shrug before continuing to climb up the dense magma-filled chamber.

He turned to the left once again and noticed that the Ho-Ohs were starting to climb up the mountain in a linear fashion. It looked like they were holding something that was allowing them to get up easily.

"What the hell are they doing?" Kojo asked to himself.

 **000**

"Alright Brian, your weapon is useless. They kept fighting them off…" Aspen commented.

"Silence! My device was not created to cause a diversion," Brian responded.

"Just use it to suction up the-"

"Wait… those bubbles aren't moving anywhere because they got frozen…" Summer started, eyeing the stable bubbles. "What if Brian uses his ray thing to blast bubbles toward the top, and Freezeo, Aura, and Lassie can freeze them so that we can get up a bit faster"

"Do you realize how much effort it'd take to leap from one sphere to another?" Phill argued. "Plus, if we do that, we may end up slipping off because they'd be frozen!"

"I think Phill's right," Annie chimed in. "We shouldn't really risk it if we have a process that's working well…"

"Brian, suck the cookies…" Pia said, yanking one out of the volcano wall.

Brian sighed, pressing pink button on his device. A loud whirring sound was heard as the Reuniclus' device started sucking the volcano wall due to how he was holding it. The strong force caused the crust to chip off and into the device before lava started to flow out of the hole and into the device, melting it from the inside out.

"Oh come on!" Brian exclaimed. "Ugh… I knew I should have made it heat resistant!"

"Nice going dumbass, now how the hell are we going to keep track of the cookies?!" Anthony replied.

"Why don't we stuff them in your shell?" Marie queried as they all continued climbing up. "Or maybe your cannons?"

"Oh you're _so_ funny…" Anthony replied with a sneer. "Maybe they should go into your big jaws? It'll be a good place for storage…"

Marie gave him a look of unamusement.

"We don't have time for your flirting down there!" Fez called, using his wings to hold onto the thread. "Keep moving!"

"Uh, sorry, but we have an issue here!" Summer called back up. "Lava's flowing down thanks to Brian's stupid toy!"

"IT'S NOT A TOY! IT WAS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION!"

"Shut up!" Numerous others exclaimed.

"Okay, we need to just keep moving," Sabrina commented. "This damn volcano is already hot as fuck, and the lava coming out is only making shit hotter!"

"I agree with that…" Aura spoke up, her legs quivering like gelatin.

"Then keep moving!" Phill shouted. "Cramad, Klavier, Dhaunt, and Marion are halfway up the volcano right now!"

Looking up, they all noticed that the four that he listed were, indeed, _way_ higher than they were.

"How the hell are Klavier and Cramad's pincers not snapping this thing?!" Aspen queried in confusion.

"Either this thread is insanely strong, or their pincers are weak as fuck…" Sabrina stated. "Now keep it moving!"

 **000**

As Sola hopped up the mountain with ease, Morgan followed behind, while Shine and Vixen came up a bit more carefully.

Nearly all of their teammates were nearing the top, and with the situation that they already had with Vixen, they didn't need their team to have another reason to vote for her.

"Come on you two, we need to hurry up before the Ho-Ohs make it up first!" Morgan called down.

Vixen and Shine started going up a bit faster. Shine had been taking her time for no real reason other than boredom, while Vixen was practically done as a whole. Tears streamed down her face the more she thought about it. Her house was burned down, she was questioning her relationship, she was just _raped_ , and it seemed that absolutely no one gave a damn.

Sure, the girls did, but no one else seemed to show any real sympathy. It just made her sick to her stomach.

Hearing her sob, Shine sighed. "Vix. Come on. You're stronger than this…"

"No I'm not! My life is a fucking wreck!" she exclaimed. "Fuck this game!"

"Vix, if you want Sparky to get his comeuppance, you need to work with us…" Shine explained as she continued to climb.

"How is that going to help me?" Vixen replied, clenching her paws. "Everyone already believes him! And there's no fucking proof because of Victini's bullshit! So again I look like a fucking slut over something out of my control!"

"Well, crying about it won't help anything either," Shine replied, climbing back down and staring up at her with a serious expression. "Everyone talking about you in that light is a fucking idiot. You need to remember that. In addition, the world isn't always fair. Good people get punished for things that they didn't do all of the time."

"But-"

"No matter how much evidence or proof you give, you'll only influence the judge and the cops. The jury, however, is different. A person's mind is their own, and they'll interpret anything that they see or hear as what they _want_ to see and hear. And bias plays a part, too. For instance, if you see a guy smack a girl without context, what would you do?"

Vixen sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "I'd be disturbed and pissed…"

"Okay… and what if the girl cheated on him three times and aborted his child? How would you feel about the smack, then?"

"Well… yeah, then she'd deserve it, in my opinion…"

"That's the word I need you to focus on. _Opinions_. You need to get over this and brush off all of the bullshit thrown at you," Shine explained. "People are always going to be assholes, and we've been dealing with _these_ assholes for over twenty years. Why do you care so much about what they say all of a sudden? Because it's embarrassing?"

Vixen silently nodded.

"Vix, we _all_ have problems. We _all_ have embarrassing and dark secrets. These guys calling you out have their own private issues that they're not willing to bring out, so they just target anyone else that they can, and you just happen to have the most drama surrounding you," Shine continued. "Snap out of it. Things will get better if you just move on…"

As the Espeon turned around to continue her climb, Vixen looked down in disappointment. Not at what she said, but in herself.

 **000**

" **Shine's right. I need to pull myself together…" Vixen said, feeling invigorated. "If these bastards vote me out over a lie, then that's their loss. I need to get out of this shitty game anyway."**

 **000**

" **I was almost raped by the mailman who went around our block when I was seven," Shine explained in a somber tone. "If it hadn't been for my dad watching through the window, who knows what would have happened?"**

 **She took a deep breath. "My parents told me to always be strong, and I admit, I wasn't doing that good of a job after that. But, after meeting Shade and living with him, I feel like I'm able to help and understand others a lot better. So… thank you, guys…"**

 **000**

"Guys! We need to pick up the pace before-"

"AND THE HORRIBLE HO-OHS HAVE REACHED THE TOP FOR THE PRE-CHALLENGE!" Victini announced through his megaphone.

Morgan groaned, as Shine and Vixen exchanged looks of disgruntlement.

They were each enveloped in a pink aura before disappearing from their respective spots.

 **000**

"Welcome to the top of the volcano, losers…" Victini introduced, as a good amount of the competitors were covering their mouths and noses to prevent soot inhalation.

"Fuck off," Kojo replied, covering his snout.

Ignoring that comment, Victini continued. "Alright, the Ho-Ohs got up here first, _but_ , how many cookies do they have?"

The Ho-Ohs exchanged looks of unsurety before Marie held up a measly three cookies. All of their attempts to keep the cookies that they gathered intact failed. Marie was able to hold the cookies in her mouth, as per Anthony's joke suggestion.

"Three cookies… wow. You guys really _are_ horrible…" Victini commented.

"Shut up, we did what we could!" Dhaunt stated, folding his arms.

"Whatever," Victini replied, waving him off. "Lugias, what have _you_ got?"

Immediately, Ace held up four cookies with his ribbons, Ashton held three in her vines, and Egridos opened his body, allowing a bunch of cookies to pour out.

"Oh come on!" Summer exclaimed.

"The Loser Lugias win the pre-challenge!"

"Ugh...I can't believe this shit. We just climbed up a large ass mountain full of magma and we still have _another_ challenge!?" Taylor exclaimed.

"You should know me by now…" Victini chuckled. "Your torture is my pleasure, and also great for ratings!"

"Ratings for this season are at an all time low…" Mew commented, deadpan. "I honestly doubt that more torture and pain is what needs to happen."

"Hmm… nah," Victini replied. "We'll get the ratings back soon enough," he said before bringing the megaphone back to his lips. "BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD, GET OVER HERE WITH THE CHALLENGE AID!"

Everyone looked around, eventually seeing Colton and Tyson walking toward the group. Each pseudo-legendary was holding a wet cardboard box. One was filled with spray cans, and the other was filled with pale white and gray suits. Colton dropped his box and folded his arms.

"Was the name calling really necessary, prick?" Colton growled.

"And uh… just to clarify, am I Beavis or Butt-Head?" Tyson queried.

"Does it _really_ matter, Ty?" Colton responded, eyeing his boyfriend with narrowed eyes.

"No it doesn't. You're both ugly idiots, so it doesn't matter who is who," Victini stated. "Now, go scrub the toilets…"

"What!?" Colton exclaimed. "We're here for challenge work, not toilet duty!"

"You're what we tell you to do, so scram!" Victini said, handing him a plunger.

Colton growled, glaring daggers at the Victory Pokemon as Tyson placed his box down. As he took off flying, Tyson sighed before following him.

"You're a sick, sadistic fuck, you know that?" Lassie spoke up.

"Why thank you," Victini thanked before taking out a walkie-talkie. "Now, your next challenge is rather simple. _Zahku, release the load…"_

The whirring of helicopter blades got everyone's attention, as the smoke started spreading more. The aerial vehicle started heading in their direction before halting over the opening of the volcano. The helicopter seemed to have a cage underneath it. There appeared to be Slugma and Magcargo inside of the cage, and with a press of a button, the trapdoor of the cage opened, dropping the Lava Pokemon into the volcano.

"Two at a time, a player from each team will race to collect the most Slugma and or Magcargo," Victini explained. "You will have to hook yourselves up to those bungee cords, which are connected to those stones."

Everyone gazed over at the edge of the volcano opening, where they saw two yellow cords wrapped around two large stones. Next to each stone was a large cage.

"Slugma are worth one point, while Magcargo are worth two points…" Victini explained. "The team that gathers the most points will win the challenge."

"Uh-huh… So you expect us to bungee jump into a fucking volcano…" Egridos stated. "How _pleasant_ …"

"Oh, don't you worry. That's what your rewards are for," Victini said, gesturing to the two wet boxes beside him. Reaching down into each box, he pulled out a can and a suit. "Lugias, since you brought up the most cookies, you get this Flame Block, able to repel fire, lava, and magma."

"Nice!" Frosty smirked.

"And as for you Ho-Ohs…" Victini started, holding up a suit. "You guys get these, one size fits all, flame retardant suits…"

"Great…." Anthony commented, folding his arms. "And the suits look like they'll easily tear. Thanks you piece of-"

"You're welcome," Victini cut him off. "Now, pick who's going first, because every person on your team has to go at least once. So, if you have _less_ players, I suggest you try and grab as many as you can…" he continued, eyeing the Lugias. "Once every player from your team has gone, you are not allowed to continue."

"What?!" Morgan exclaimed. "How will that be fair? We have less players!"

"Hence why I said, 'I suggest you try and grab as many as you can'..." Victini responded. "Learn to listen…"

"Uh… Magcargo are supposedly hotter than the sun. Won't our suits, I don't know… disintegrate?" Klavier queried.

"You'll be fine," Victini waved away his concerns. "Sure, you guys' suits will be a bit tight on you and will let you feel the pain, but who cares? You'll still be perfectly safe…"

"Sucks to be you guys," Taylor giggled with a sneer.

Mew picked up one of the cans of body spray. Turning it around, he saw a label on the back. "Warning: Contact with skin will cause intense burning sensation over the sprayed areas…"

The Lugias' eyes widened before they glowered at Victini, who chuckled. "What? You know that no one gets off easily unless I say so…"

"So, we get protection from the lava, but in return, we feel a burning sensation _anyway_!?" Sola exclaimed in agitation.

"Yep," Victini replied. "This'll be very entertaining. Your challenge begins… NOW!"

 **000**

"Alright, I think we need to come up a strategy for this…" Annie spoke up. "I say that we have the ones that have a larger arm span go last and the ones that are smaller or have the shorter arm spans, like me, can go early…"

"Save the more capable for last, pretty much? Smart choice…" Aura remarked. "So, who's gonna go first?"

"You can…" Sabrina said. "Get the weaklings down there first."

"Sabrina, seriously. You're acting more and more immature as the days go by," Fez stated, his eyes full of annoyance and disappointment. "

"Shut up! I'm actually trying to hold myself together, but the idiocy on this team and the stupid challenges are getting my nerves!" Sabrina retorted angrily. "So stop fucking giving your two cents on what you think of me. You've already made it clear…"

"Okay, I'll just go first," Phill stated, stepping forward. "Might as well get this near-death experience over with."

The Mouse Pokemon walked over to the box of suits for his team and took one of them out. Sniffing them, he recoiled at the putrid smell. "Ah! Sick! These smell like mildew!"

"Deal with it…" Victini said with a careless shrug.

Phill groaned as he unzipped the suit and placed it on the ground.

 **-000-**

"I'm going last…" Egridos immediately declared. "I have four arms, so I'll be able to bring us a quick victory if things get down to the wire…"

"I think we should focus on the Magcargo," Morgan said, peering down into the volcano. "Remember, they're worth two points."

"I agree with Morgan," Sally inputted. "The more points the better…"

"I think the main question right now is who's going first?" Sparky spoke up.

Vixen glared at him. "Why don't _you_ go first? WITHOUT the spray?!" she snarled.

Sparky wanted to smirk at her fury; it was cute. But, needing to keep the victim card he had, he took a flinched and took a step back. "Vixen! You practically forced yourself on me! Why the hell are you doing this!?"

"She's a slut who doesn't want to own up to what she does. I thought we had that settled…" Taylor spoke.

Vixen scoffed. "I'm sorry, but weren't some of you on the fence about keeping Sparky here because there was a chance that he'd go Shade on your asses? Hell, he attacked _all_ of you in the cabin when _two_ of you talked shit about Luna!"

"Hey!" Sparky exclaimed, running up to her, making her move back a few steps, holding a glare. "That's fucking enough. I'm sorry that I _actually_ care about my wife enough to stand up for her when her name or anything about her is dragged through the mud!"

"It's not like you'd do the same for Cano anyway. He's been getting more and more depressed because of this shit and you barely do anything to ease or comfort him! You're there for him, but you're _really_ not, so just shut your fucking mouth!" Sparky snapped.

Vixen flinched at what he said, her lips quivering before she just dropped to the ground, her paws covering her face to hide her tears.

"Ugh… great, more fake tears," Egridos commented apathetically, rolling his eyes. "Hey! Foxy, get up and get your turn over with. We don't need your sniveling holding up the whole game."

Vixen rose to her feet abruptly. "Fuck all of you…" she said before she ran forward and leaped into the volcano without the cord.

Morgan, Sola, and Shine rushed to the opening, as did a couple of the others. Mew's eyes widened, while Victini could only burst into laughter.

 **-000-**

Vixen closed her eyes, letting herself fall into the hot magma below. Upon impact, she opened her eyes, swimming up to the surface of the thick fluid. Due to the fact that she was a fire-type, the magma didn't really have any negative effects on her.

She pulled herself out of the molten rock, magma and dark brown rock dripping off of her fur as she sniffled and sat on a platform, looking down as the Slugma and Magcargo slinked towards her.

She heard the sounds of stones toppling and looked up and saw a figure leaping down into the large crater and grabbing onto a Slugma was near her. Unbeknownst to her, the figure, which was Phill, grabbed one of her tails as well.

As he started going back up, so did she. "HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"

Phill didn't do anything as he, Vixen, and the Slugma bounced a few times before eventually settling.

"Vixen… what the fuck was that?" the Mouse Pokemon queried tonelessly.

The kitsune couldn't respond; she didn't even know what that was. After all that Shine said not too long ago, she still showed weakness. She needed to go. She just needed to.

 **-000-**

Upon being pulled back up by Anthony and Kojo, after putting Vixen down, Phill tossed his first Slugma into the Ho-Ohs' cage.

"Wow, nice one, bitch. You did all of that and you _still_ didn't get us anything? Some team player…" Egridos commented.

"EGRIDOS, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Amethyst, out of everyone, shouted. "She just tried to commit fucking suicide and you're still acting like nothing happened and continuing to condemn her!"

"She's a fire-type and we're all immortal. You're acting like her throwing herself into a volcano is supposed to affect me in some way," Egridos responded. "I'm just here to play the damn game; I don't give a fuck about what happens as long as I'm not involved…"

"Oh that's low, man," Dhaunt said. "That's not the way to be…"

"Whatever," Sabrina groaned. "Can we just continue with the challenge? She's just trying to get more sympathy and act out just so people will believe that she's not a total slut who deserv-"

"SHUT IT!" Shine snapped at the bird. "Seriously, you _really_ to get over yourself! So a guy cheated on you? Big fucking whoop! MOVE THE FUCK ON! You can't just decide to hold a fucking vendetta over someone who's never done anything to you just because of something they did something you don't like!"

"Oh, so by that logic, we can't hold any resentment for any murderers or rapists because they didn't do it to us in particular…"

Shine shook her head. "You people are really unbelievable. You really are…"

Vixen started walking away, which a few others took notice of.

"Vixen, where are you g-"

"I quit!" she shouted back as she started heading back down the volcano.

"WHAT!?" a few of the contestants exclaimed.

"Vixen, wait!" Sola called, rushing behind her, only to be brought back via telekinesis.

"Nope," Victini said. "She quit, so no trying to talk her out of it. Now, back to the challenge!"

"Wait, what?!" Ace exclaimed.

"No fucking way…" Aspen growled. "This is fucking enough for one day! We did a challenge and they just lost a player!"

"So?" Victini queried, not caring about what had just transpired. "Just because someone decides to be a baby and quit doesn't mean the challenge stops? I was serious about the quitter shit not happening. So, unless _you_ guys want to lose a player as well, I suggest that you all continue with the challenge."

"Wait, so you mean-"

"Yep. Vixen may have quit, but if you guys lose, you _still_ have to vote someone out!" Victini announced.

"MEW! SAY SOMETHING!" Cramad exclaimed, astounded that the pink feline wasn't saying anything and just staring into space.

To be honest, he was in shock. Things were just getting more out of hand now. "I… I don't know _what_ to say…"

"Exactly," Victini spoke up. "His hosting never got things as impactful and juicy as this!"

"Nah, mate, this is disgraceful and unamusin' torture porn!" Titan exclaimed.

"Just do the challenge…"

"NO!" everyone, excluding Egridos and Sabrina exclaimed.

Victini, rolling his eyes, could figure out that they were just going to be difficult. And, knowing that things would only erupt in more complaints if he decided to send _both_ teams to elimination.

"Alright, fine…" Victini said. "Since no one is going to finish this challenge, I declare the Loser Lugias the winners under the conditions of the pre-challenge…"

"WHAT?!" the Ho-Ohs exclaimed.

"No fair! I got a fucking Slugma!" Phill exclaimed.

"It doesn't count since no one wants to finish this challenge," Victini replied. "So, Ho-Ohs. I'll see you guys at elimination tonight."

They all exchanged looks.

 **000**

 **Sparky chuckled to himself. "Well, we didn't lose and the bitch** _ **still**_ **quit. And now the other team is gonna vote someone else out as well. Killing two birds with one stone…"**

" **And the best part? I didn't even do anything to her," Sparky laughed.**

 **000**

 _Sparky dragged Vixen's unconscious body near a clearing before sitting and rolling her onto him, placing her paws on his chest._

" _Perfect…" he stated to himself before clearing his throat and beginning to groan._

 **000**

"Alright, who are we canning tonight, because I just want Fez gone right now," Sabrina stated. "He keeps antagonizing me and it's not funny…"

"Actually, I think we should try and take out Cramad or Marion," Summer spoke. "No offense to them, but they're both pretty useless and don't do much to help the team."

"Eh, I can live with that," Anthony said with a shrug. "I just still can't believe that prick decided not to count the Slugma Phill got us…"

"I just can't believe what happened today at all…"

"A slut was a slut. Nothing more, nothing less…" Sabrina replied with a shrug. "What karma was giving her was too much for her to handle and now she's leaving. Good riddance if you ask me…"

The others exchanged looks.

 **000**

Later that night, the Ho-Ohs were sitting on their respective rocks at the elimination ceremony.

They all looked disgruntled and agitated. They didn't think they needed to be there if someone else was already going home.

Victini floated up with a sneer. "Welcome to another elimination ceremony…"

"An undeserved one, I might add…" Klavier replied, folding his arms.

"Whatever…" Victini replied. "Anyway. Mew…"

Mew groaned. "This is so fucking depressing. Alright, you all know the drill. Aspen, Dhaunt, Marion, Cramad, Titan, Annie, Freezeo, Pia, Brian, Klavier, Phill, Lassie, Fez, Summer, Anthony, and Marie, you guys are safe…"

Aura and Sabrina were left. Aura looked down, while Sabrina looked annoyed, but smirked upon seeing who she was up against.

"Aura and Sabrina… you guys are in the bottom," Victini said. "Aura, you're pretty useless in your team, _but_ you got closure with Shine and also trying to be a better person. Yawn…"

Aura sighed.

"And Sabrina… you've been a pain in the ass," Victini replied. "Your personal vendettas, attitude, and lack of sympathy may be annoying…"

Sabrina scoffed. "Just get the homewrecking slut out of here…"

"Actually, Sabrina… _you_ are the one going home…" Mew replied.

Sabrina's eyes widened as Aura's tail wagged in excitement. She leapt into Aspen's arms, embracing her in a hug.

"WHAT?!" the Staraptor squawked. "You idiots voted to keep that dumb bitch in over _me_?! I'm one of the strongest players on the team!"

"Yes, but when it comes to a numbers game, strength doesn't matter. You were _way_ too annoying," Annie commented, folding her arms.

Those who voted for her grumbled in agreement, making Sabrina gape and growl. "You know what? Fine! I'm glad I'm out of this hellhole anyway!"

"And so are we…" Fez said, holding a smirk.

Anthony, Marie, and Summer exchanged looks of shock.

 **000**

" **Uh… is it bad that I feel threatened now?" Summer queried.**

 **000**

Vixen had been waiting on the dock ever since she left the challenge site. Hearing voices, she turned her head and saw Sabrina flying over. She smiled to herself. At least one of the instigators was getting their comeuppance.

"Alright, Vixen, get on inside of the Suck of Shame…" Victini stated. "You big baby…"

"Shut up, Victini!" Vixen growled. "Sparky-"

"Yeah yeah, blah blah blah…" Victini replied, shoving her into the elevator. "Watch the episode when it comes out and you'll be able to see it…"

"Wait, see WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Vixen screamed as she was sent down.

A few seconds later, the trapdoor reformed and the doors opened. With a disgruntled sigh, Sabrina entered the elimination device. "Fuck everyone…"

"Ooh, good last words…" Victini commended as he pressed the button, sending her down as well.

He faced the camera. "Tune in next time to see what happens after all of this! Right here on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!"

"You suck…" Mew commented.

"And you swallow…" Victini retorted.

 **000**

 **See you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, Bye!**


	13. Miff Dive

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon Underdogs, the competitors had some time to relax and be normal people for a short while. Sparky cooked up a scheme to get rid of Vixen, while Pia tried to work on Aura. Making up a false rape allegation, Sparky was able to convince nearly everyone that Vixen forced herself on him. This caused even more accusations and insults being flung her way, leading to Vixen flinging herself into a volcano, and then quitting. In the pre-challenge, an homage to season three, climbing up the volcano while collecting cookies was the task. After that, the next challenge was simple, collect Slugma and Magcargo. However, due to Vixen's episode, the challenge was cancelled, leaving the Lugias as the victors. And, due to constant annoyance and her lack of maturity, Sabrina took the Suck of Shame along with Vixen.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Annie, Titan, and Cramad returned to their meeting area the following day to share the news with Clay. Titan and Cramad thought about nothing regarding the elimination, as they simply felt that it was well deserved. On the contrary, Annie felt very invigorated and happy with what they accomplished.

As they entered the moist brush near the lake, they found Clay sitting on a tree stump eating what looked like a sandwich. How he was able to get the supplies to create it, no would know.

The Sudowoodo noticed his three friends approaching him and grew a small smile. "Good morning, guys," he greeted. "How'd the elimination go?"

"Well, we were able to get rid of Sabrina," Cramad revealed, which Clay responded to with a nod of approval.

"Good to hear," he replied. After what they had told him yesterday after the challenges were over, he was pretty livid that people were still acting like insensitive pricks. Did none of them understand that they were all in the same boat? They all deal with the same trauma, pain, and bullshit hosts? Sure, some experienced it on a much grander scale compared to others, but in general, it was still the same.

"I'll never get why people are so cold-hearted toward others…" Titan explained. "It only makes them look like a sack o' shit."

"The way of the world, my friends. The way of the world…" Clay commented, taking another bite of his sloppily made sandwich. "Sad to say, but people are assholes when money is involved. If a guy was offered five trillion dollars to murder everyone in an orphanage and _not_ get arrested for it, nine times out of ten, that guy will do it…"

"That sounds like something Shade, Ray, or Mason would do," Annie remarked. "No offense to Shade…"

"Maybe," Clay replied with a shrug. "But, my point is, some people are greedy, self-absorbed assholes more concerned about their own reputation than being a good person, and those types of people are sitting in this game unscathed."

"Well, we just got rid of the one on our team. It's the other team's turn now," Cramad chimed in.

"That doesn't mean that our job is done, though," Annie spoke up, her arms folded. "We just got rid of _Sabrina_ , someone who could be categorized as a _strong threat_. If we keep it up, we may be able to eliminate the other threats and make it easier for us to make it to the merge."

"But, won't doin' that cause our team to lose on a more consistent basis?" Titan countered. "I'd rather not have a chance of going home at al. By getting rid of the stronger players, that puts a target on _everyone that remains'_ back and leads it up to complete chance."

"We can easily convince the others to vote for someone else," Annie explained. "We just convinced Fez, Aspen, Aura, Marion, Dhaunt, Lassie, Klavier, and Phill to vote for Sabrina! I don't think it'll be that hard if we tell them our reasoning…"

"Annie, don't get too ahead of yourself," Clay spoke as he wiped his mouth. "You never know what can happen. Someone who cares about one of the people you're trying to take out may warn them and then _you'll_ be the one going home."

"I honestly doubt that anyone cares that much about Anthony's jackassed-ness, Summer's anger, or Marie…" Annie replied.

"You have to think about the trail…" Clay responded, giving her a serious look. "Isn't Summer dating someone?"

"Yeah, she's dating Kojo," Cramad reminded.

"So what?" Annie queried, not caring. "Kojo's on the opposing team. If anything, that's just another reason to eliminate her."

Clay cleared his throat, getting their attention again. "Okay, so Kojo. Who does he usually hang around with?"

The three of them exchanged looks, as they honestly hadn't been paying much attention to him. He _was_ on the opposing team after all.

Seeing their silence, Clay sighed. He had a feeling that they weren't paying attention to their opponents. "Phill and Klavier are the only ones that Kojo ever talks to on a regular basis," Clay revealed. "Given that, I think it's safe to assume that they know and care about their friend's girlfriend, as they want him to be happy."

"Well, then we can just exclude them," Annie replied, piecing things together. "No problem."

"You don't think one of the people you tell will try to get more people to agree after to guarantee success?" Clay replied, attempting to plant the seeds of doubt that she needed to understand. "If a plan is good, you have to prepare for things to go wrong. You never know how people will act."

"Clay, I'm sure that we'll be fine," Annie replied. "And we can always break the trail and eliminate Klavier and Phill for futility."

"Futility?" Cramad queried. "Phill was the one who got us the Slugma in the last challenge. Granted, it didn't count, but he still decided to go first and take initiative!"

"Okay, and what has Klavier done?" Annie replied. "Nothing…"

"Well, I suppose you're right in that regard. However, we should have more than just one flying-type on the team," Titan explained. "Eliminating Sabrina just leaves us with Fez, and I don't think he'll be good enough on his own. Klavier should stay, too."

Annie groaned. "Well, excluding them, we still have Dhaunt, Marion, Lassie, and Fez to help us out," she explained. "So, that's seven votes out of seventeen remaining players on the team. And, I know for a fact that the others won't band together to get a larger number…"

"Okay, Annie, how about this…" Clay chimed in, thinking that she was still getting ahead of herself. "If these 'threats' start to annoy you, _then_ you can try to eliminate them. See how well it works for you…"

"Hmm…" Annie thought. "Fine. I'll do it _that_ way…"

"Okay, good," said Clay. "Just try not to think so hard and make the correct decisions."

As Annie nodded while rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I hear something…" Cramad chimed in as she turned to the bushes.

The others already figured out what it was and peeped through the bushes.

 **-000-**

Taylor took a breath as he slowly swam back and forth in the cool water of the lake. Ever since the Milotic kissed the Bouffalant, he'd been thinking about him nonstop. It was growing extremely annoying and uncomfortable for the both of them.

The Tender Pokemon wanted him, but the Bouffalant didn't seem to want him in return. In fact, it was like Connor was _scared_ of him. Hell, he literally had to _drag_ the Bouffalant there. Looking to him, there was an uncomfortable expression on his face, and, he glanced at the hoof marks that he left.

"Connor… look. We've already had this discussion, but I feel like we should be able to push past this uncomfortable situation," Taylor spoke, eyeing the bashful Bouffalant.

Connor looked away from him with a blush. He had been consistently fighting off the thoughts of being with Taylor in his dreams, as well as his advances, and was frankly getting tired of having to do so. He said that he didn't like Taylor before, but his new attitude was slowly making him change his mind… and that scared him.

Gazing as drips of water dripped down at the sleek body of the Milotic before him, Connor's legs quivered, something that only ever happened when he was afraid or simply anxious. The kiss from the previous challenge _really_ took a toll on him. He didn't know what to do anymore.

"Taylor… Can we just _not_ talk about it?" Connor queried after clearing his throat. "I'm honestly completely confused about this whole thing and I just want to know what we're going to do next. Also, can you _not_ drag me here against my will? I'm pretty sure that my insubordination means that I don't want to talk to you…"

"So, we don't need to talk about the kiss and…" Taylor started as a blush grew on his face. "...how it means _nothing_?"

Connor blinked, narrowing his eyes at the Milotic. Just then, what Clay had said the day prior replayed in his head. " _Maybe use a false relationship…_ "

That idea, despite him initially panning it, made its rounds back into the mind of the Bash Buffalo Pokemon. It wasn't like him, but if things were just going to get more and more awkward, he might as well do something to end it. And, it'd be a help in seeing if being in a relationship is a good thing for him.

He took a deep breath. "Okay Taylor, listen…" he started.

The Milotic leaned down a bit, not knowing what to expect. Connor blushed and sighed before looking the Tender Pokemon in the eyes. Up close, Connor noticed that… they were actually beautiful! All of the time they spent together, with him being pummeled and Taylor being affectionately awkward, he never really noticed.

"I-I… I g-guess we c-can try things out…" Connor stuttered.

Taylor's eyes widened as his face flushed a deep red. "U-Uh, w-what happened to not talking about it?" he responded, his voice turning a bit squeaky. "I thought that you didn't like me; I was a total jackass to you!"

"Yes, but… w-with how you've been acting lately…" Connor started, trying to muster up the right words. "I-I guess you've shown that you a-actually have a heart of sorts. And, I-I guess I'm willing to forgive the past and move forward."

Taylor's eyes glimmered as he stared down at the Bouffalant. He actually _forgave_ him for the pain he caused? He was willing to form a _relationship_ with him despite his poor treatment of him. Taylor couldn't believe what he was hearing.

This was his first time actually feeling true emotions towards someone. There was no fuck buddy, no abuse, no teasing, no manipulation, just… him actually accepting being open about himself.

He slowly slithered out of the lake, his eyes remaining on the Bouffalant the entire time. Connor grew a bit unnerved due to the thousand-yard stare he was receiving. Gently coiling around him, Taylor lifted the buffalo up toward him before pressing his lips against his.

 **-000-**

"Okay, either Connor's lost his mind, or he actually thinks that he likes Taylor…" Annie commented.

"Or, he's doing as I suggested. Faking a relationship…" Clay brought up as he moved back toward his stump. "I suppose he realizes that Taylor's feelings for him will only cause more issues for them… so he's just sacrificing himself in a sense."

"He shouldn't have to, though," Cramad opined. "Taylor hasn't been doing much of anything to him as of late, and I don't think that he _will_ now that they're dating, at least in _his_ mind."

"Meh, if Connor actually starts having feelings for Taylor and nothin' negative is happenin', I don't see the harm in it…" Titan replied with a shrug.

"Well, hopefully that doesn't happen," Annie said. "I don't think Connor's ready at all. He's just doing this to stop feeling weird."

"Let's just ride this out. I don't like it, but they're adults, they can handle it themselves…" Cramad replied.

Titan and Clay shrugged, while Annie folded her arms in unsurety.

 **000**

" **I don't really think that this is a good idea," Annie replied. "Connor has been a nervous, unsure, weak wreck ever since he got here. I don't think he's ready for something this serious…"**

" **Ugh… Why do I sound like his mother?" she asked, holding her head.**

 **000**

Following what happened the day prior, Morgan, Shine, Sola, and Sally met up at the gazebo once again. This time, Shine had asked Ace to join in on their conversation. As far as she was concerned, Sparky was no longer in the alliance, and no one else could really blame her.

They were all still in shock at what he had done. The girls knew that the guys had sides unlike their true selves, but they never imagined it being this bad. None of them pictured Sparky losing himself as fast as he did, nor did they expect him to sexually pursue and assault Vixen. Something needed to be done.

"Okay, we have two options to deal with our problem," Sola stated. "One, we beat the shit out of him until he's back into the right state of mind or wait for it to happen naturally. And two, we eliminate him, and let Luna handle him."

"Why doesn't Mew or Victini just call the cops and get him arrested!?" Ace chimed in, still in shock. "Rape is nothing to take lightly!"

"Victini couldn't care less about our safety or common decency," Shine explained bluntly. "As for Mew, I don't know why he hasn't done anything."

"Knowing Victini, he probably threatened to make us do even worse challenges like he did in All-Stars…" Morgan chimed in. "Mew actually gives a damn about us and our health, immortality or not."

"It's hard to believe that when we first started, _Mew_ was the awful one," Sally chimed in. "Now everything's flipped and everyone's changing…"

"Well, what are we gonna do about Sparky?" Sola queried, wanting to get back on track. "I don't even know if the cops will do anything if they already know how the show is…"

"And, I'm not so sure trying to beat the shit out of him will help anything," Shine replied. "If Shade is the youngest, and almost everyone here fears him, I don't want to know how strong Sparky may actually be."

When put into perspective, almost everyone blanched with the exception of Shine and Sola.

"Well, D wasn't _that_ bad in All-Stars and he's older than Shade, so maybe we can't really make that assumption," Sola explained. "For all we know he could be weaker than D, but still strong enough to overpower Vixen…"

"Again, I don't want to find out and take a risk," Shine replied. "So, I vote that we eliminate him. Fast."

"But the others still think that _Vixen_ came to _Sparky_ ," Morgan reminded. "He made sure to cover his tracks…"

"And apparently Frosty was a witness who got Sparky's testimony," Sally chimed in, putting on a thinking face. Just then, an idea popped in her head. "What if we try to convince the others that they're in cahoots to get rid of Vixen?"

"Wait what?" Ace queried. "How would that make sense?"

Sally turned to the girls. "Girls, remember two seasons ago when Flame and Otto joined forces and ended up getting Archie eliminated due to a bunch of bullshit?"

"Yeah," Morgan responded, raising a brow in confusion. Sola nodded her head simultaneously, while Shine continued listening. What was she getting at?

"Well, what if we remind the others of _that_ situation?" Sally suggested. "Then, we can just tell the others that they were using Vixen's poor reputation and depression in order to get her to quit or vote her out."

"But what reason would those two in particular have?" Shine asked. "They've hardly ever spoken to each other. Plus, Frosty hung around Farra and she hates us…"

"Hmm… Sparky's tired of being lumped into Vixen's drama and… Frosty decided to target Vixen because he saw her as an easy out, and like you said, he hung around Farra, who hates you guys…" Morgan reasoned.

"That sounds like a good story to me…" Sally remarked with a smirk. "And, not only does it get rid of Sparky, it paints a target on Frosty's back as punishment…"

"Nice plan," Sola replied. "Now, we have to worry about execution. But, that'll have to wait until the next challenge ends."

"RIght," Morgan nodded in agreement. "By our next elimination, the rapist lion _will_ be going home."

They all nodded in agreement, unable to see that they were being watched from a distance.

 **000**

Sparky backed away from a bush, a glare on his face. He had been using his ability to see through things to his advantage, spying over his _former_ alliance members.

" _What do you know? I was right,"_ he heard his father say.

He growled and turned to him, seeing that he was lounging against a tree stump. Sparky walked toward him, annoyed.

"Will you fuck off _?!"_ Sparky growled. "You're not helping with shit!"

" _Of course I am, you dumb sack of shit…_ " Luthor said, standing onto his feet. Following that, he struck Sparky across the face, making him wince. _"And you don't EVER speak to me like that, punk. You get me?"_

Sparky roared and attempted to tackle him, only for his father to fade away, causing him to hit his head on the tree stump. Looking around, he realized that it was just another hallucination. He groaned. "Fuck my life…"

He got back onto his feet. "Well, now those fuckheads are going to be gunning for me, and I've gotta make sure that they don't continue…"

He retreated back into the forest with a huff.

 **000**

Holly and Klavier were sitting on the edge of the cliff, having a picnic, courtesy of Holly. Klavier felt a bit disgruntled, not at Holly or the food, but at himself for not being the one to cook for _her_. He just wanted to be a good boyfriend and he was already feeling like he had screwed up.

Sensing his dismal attitude, Holly rose a brow, putting down her berry. "Something wrong, Klavier?"

He wasn't going to lie to her; relationships thrived on honesty didn't they? He let out a sigh. "I just… Shouldn't I be the one doing these kinds of things? I feel kinda bad..."

Holly, upon hearing that, giggled. "Don't, sweetie. We do things for _each other_ , not just one side…"

"So, I didn't do anything wrong?"

"Of course not," Holly giggled before kissing his cheek. Klavier blushed as he picked up a berry and popped it into his mouth. Immediately, a grimace appears on his face as the sour, bitter juices burst into his mouth.

He forced himself to swallow the berry and shivered. "Okay, that was a bad one. _Way_ too sour for me…"

Holly tittered. "Sorry, hun," she replied. "I guess I shoulda checked if they were ripe or sweet enough…"

"No, no, it's okay," Klavier replied as he picked up another one. "I mean, they can't _all_ be bad, can they?"

He popped another berry into his mouth, biting into it. The juices burst into his mouth again, resulting in the same taste as the first one, albeit a bit tarter.

"Okay, I was wrong," he forced out as he swallowed the berry. "Arceus that's disgusting…"

"Sorry," Holly apologized sheepishly. "Must have been a bad berry bush."

"It's fine," Klavier replied, bringing her a bit close. "It's our first picnic. I don't think a few sour berries are be an issue. We can eat something else."

Holly kissed his cheek.

 **000**

" **So far, things with Klavier have been good. I mean, there hasn't been anything necessarily bad happening. Though, I'm a bit worried that he's gonna overdo it trying to make me happy," Holly explained.**

 **000**

Carson and Amethyst were sitting on the couches of the Winner's Cabin. Amethyst held an agitated expression, while Carson looked a bit afraid, his eyes locked on Amethyst, who was staring at the television.

Ashton was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Hearing the silence from the other two, she grew a bit worried. "You two okay over there? You're being awfully silent…"

"Oh, _I'm_ okay," Carson replied. "But, I don't think I can say the same for Amy…"

The Tundra Pokemon gazed at him with narrowed eyes before pressing the remote control beside her, switching on the television. Being who she was, Ashton grew curious as to why Amethyst was behaving in such a way. Sure, she wasn't as talkative as the others, but she usually said _something_ when around them.

"Something on your mind, Amethyst?" Ashton queried, stirring the eggs in the pan.

The Amaura initially didn't reply, but holding in her thoughts was only going to cause her more agitation in the near future. She took a breath as she pressed the 'off' button on the remote, turning the television right back off.

"Egridos and everyone else here is pissing me off," she admitted. "The way that they treated Vixen was just plain awful and it drove her to try and commit suicide! Then, Egridos just decides to further the pain and show no concern at all, as if nothing happened! Then he goes into a spiel about how he doesn't give a fuck about anyone or anything that doesn't concern him? FUCK HIM!"

"Ooh…" Carson replied, understanding where she was coming from. "I get it."

"Rape is _nothing_ to take lightly! And treating the victim like she deserved it or she wanted it is NOT FUCKING OKAY!" she shouted, her voice starting to crack. " _I_ wanted to commit suicide after what happened to me, but I knew that it'd only cause more grief, so I just made sure to stay away as a whole! Fuck these insensitive pricks!"

"Whoa, calm down, Amethyst…" Ashton said soothingly, taking the pan off of the stove before heading toward the living room.

She took a seat next to Amethyst on the soft, velvety sofa. She wrapped a vine around her side. "I'm sorry, I just don't know if I can deal with Egridos' blatant ignorance much longer. He is so annoying that it hurts."

"It's okay, Amethyst. Just try to ignore him for now, and we'll try to get rid of him as soon as we can. Honestly, he's beginning to annoy me as well," Ashton commented sympathetically.

"Yeah, he _is_ becoming more of a jerk," Carson chimed in. "I mean, even _Taylor's_ attitude has been changing for the better. Egridos' hasn't."

"Exactly why he needs to go by the next challenge," Amethyst said. "He hasn't done _anything_ but be a pain in the ass!"

"Wait. I know that Egridos is a huge jerk for what he did and said, but shouldn't we focus on getting rid of Sparky?" Carson chimed in. "I mean, if Vixen was _that_ upset, I think that what Frosty said was wrong and _Sparky_ attacked _her._ So, we'd be getting rid of a rapist first, then exterminate a pest…"

"Hmm… that _does_ make more sense," Ashton commented. "The cause first, and the solicitor after…"

Amethyst took a breath. "Fine. As long as the perpetrators get what's coming to them…"

Ashton nodded as she climbed off of the couch and headed back to the kitchen. "Well, breakfast is nearly done. Hope you guys are hungry."

"Yeah!" Carson cheered, while Amethyst kept her same expression. She wasn't really hungry; her appetite had vanished while thinking about Egridos.

Suddenly, knocking was heard from the door. A few seconds later, Holly entered, with Klavier in tow. He was a bit unsure about entering the cabin considering his team 'lost'. Upon seeing that only Holly's friends were there, his anxiety subsided.

"Hey guys," Holly greeted as Klavier walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey, the two lovebirds are back," Ashton teased playfully. "How was the picnic?"

The new couple exchanged awkward glances. A blush spread across Holly's face out of embarrassment. "Well, uh… I-"

"- _I_ ended up picking berries from a bad bush," Klavier saved, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "So, Holly suggested that we come here…"

"Oh, well breakfast is done," Ashton stated as she used her vines to take down a couple of plates from the cabinets. "Help yourselves…"

"Oh, we don't want to take away any from you guys…" Holly replied. "We just got back here, after all. It wouldn't really be fair."

"No, seriously, it's fine," Ashton insisted, raking a small amount of eggs, a couple of pieces of bacon, and a piece of toast onto a plate. "You stay with me and Raiden, so you should know that I prefer eating lighter. I just make decently sized proportions for you guys because I know that he'll always go for seconds," she giggled.

Holly smiled. "Yeah, that _is_ true… Raiden's in _love_ with your cooking. I mean, if Carson and Amy don't mind…"

"It's okay," Amethyst said despondently, hopping off of the couch, her sails turning blue as she retreated toward the back rooms. "I'm not that hungry…"

They all watched her depart from the living room, and while Ashton and Carson held expressions of worriedness, Holly and Klavier were a bit confused.

"What's the matter with Amy?" Holly asked, flying over and sitting on the arm of the couch Carson sat on.

Klavier walked over to the couches and took a seat where Amethyst had left.

"Well, she just thinks that Egridos was insensitive and annoying in regards to Vixen's situation," Carson explained. "Like, when she tried to kill herself, Egridos didn't show a lick of concern about her and just made it about the challenge and then insulted her again by essentially calling her a bad teammate…"

"Yeah, then Amethyst told us that she wanted to commit suicide in the past because of what happened to _her_ , so this is _really_ eating at her," Ashton added. "She wants both Egridos and Sparky gone. She was already annoyed at Egridos because of his attitude and behavior, but I think _that_ was the final straw."

"Well, if that's the case, I can see why she's so upset," Klavier spoke up. "If I was her, I'd want him gone, too."

"Yeah, so I think we need to just let her have some space," Ashton said, walking over with two plates. She handed one to Carson before placing her own on the living room table.

Holly sighed. "Okay, let's just hope that it doesn't cause any major trouble along the line."

"How would it?" Carson queried. "I don't think anyone would care about voting out Egridos."

"Murphy's Law," Klavier chimed in. "Anything that _can_ go wrong, _will_ go wrong…"

"Well, let's just hope that it doesn't…" Ashton commented.

 **000**

Kojo and Summer were in the gym, as per Summer's suggestion. After finding out about the gym from Anthony and Marie, she decided to go with Kojo and just have some fun. Getting stronger while also fooling around with her boyfriend, a great combination in her eyes.

Inside, Kojo immediately felt the chills of the air conditioning. He admired the equipment and a small smile appeared on his face. Summer suddenly picked up the shorter, lighter male and tossed him into the battle ring without warning.

Groaning, he rubbed his head as he sat up. Looking up, he found that Summer was right over him on all fours, giving him a sultry look. His face flushed, but his smile returned. "Is this the only reason you brought me in here?" he asked, his paws moving up to her hips.

Summer giggled in response before pinning his arms down and leaning down to lock their muzzles together. After a few seconds, the larger female broke the kiss. "Maybe…" she whispered suggestively. "I mean, Victini _did_ say that some cameras are here just for show…"

Kojo chuckled, pulling her down onto him. "Well, considering that it's Victini, I doubt that was the truth."

She let out a playful, impatient huff. "What I would give to get laid right now…" she teased, circling his chest with a finger.

"Hmm? What _would_ you give?" Kojo queried.

Summer chortled. "It's just a figure of speech, hun," she replied, pecking him on the lips. Just then, she sat up, straddling his crotch with her same sultry look.

"Summer…"

"Just out of curiosity… how _big_ are you?" she asked with a smirk.

Kojo blushed once again, not sure about how to answer that question. He didn't want to end up disappointing her _or_ expose his size to thousands of people who would probably be watching. She was with Ray and some other Greninja already. So, being the third guy, he was a bit self-conscious. Plus, the fact that Floatzelle incessantly cheated on him could have been _because_ of his size for all he knew.

"Uh… I don't know if I should tell you that," Kojo replied bashfully, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll probably disappoint you…"

"What makes you think that?" Summer asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Kojo sighed. "Well, you were with Ray and whatever that Greninja's name is before. You have more experience than me, so my size may just be… dissatisfying."

The Typhlosion scoffed. "Ray was a measly four inches and a one pump chump. And Yoshima was three-and-a-half, but still kinda girthy. But, even so, he could hardly get me off. I doubt that you're like either of them," she laughed.

Hearing those situations, Kojo couldn't help but laugh, himself. Compared to them, he was already better for her. He let out a sigh of relief, but he was still a bit nervous.

"So, let's hear it, big boy…" Summer urged, leaning down to his face.

Kojo blushed before sighing softly and whispering in her ear. Upon being told, Summer's face turned red and she sat up quickly before looking down where she was sitting. "Wait, you're telling me that bitch is cheating on you when you have-"

"Babe, babe… let's _not_ talk about this out loud, okay?" Kojo chuckled, sitting up before wrapping his arms around her. "You and Floatzelle are the only ones that know, and we should keep it that way, right?"

Summer groaned internally before slumping over him. "Fine…"

Kojo chuckled. "Come on, now. We're in a gym. We should be working out."

Sighing, Summer sat up. "Yeah, you're right. That was actually the first thing on my mind, anyway…"

"Hey, I thought _I_ was…"

Summer smirked at him as she started climbing out of the ring. "Come on…"

The Mienshao chuckled and followed suit, getting out of the ring.

 **000**

Aura and Aspen were on the beach; Aura was completely astonished and happy that they decided to keep _her_ in over Sabrina!

"I still can't believe it!" Aura stated, turning to her Furfrou friend.

"You proved yourself useful, hun," the Poodle Pokemon replied, nuzzling her cheek. "You should be proud."

"And why would that be?" the two friends heard from behind them.

Turning their heads, they set their eyes upon Pia, who had her arms folded. They hadn't noticed her at all nor did they hear her approach.

"She did great in the last challenge and she was spared from elimination for the second time," Aspen replied. "I know that _I_ would be proud of that."

"Uh… if she's been in the bottom two twice in a row for our team, don't you think that's a sign that more needs to be done?" Pia asked.

"What do you mean?" Aura asked in confusion. The others voted out a stronger player and kept her in. Why did she need to do more? "I'm still here and Sabrina and Luna aren't, I must be doing _something_ better…"

"Yeah, you're doing better at not getting on our nerves," Pia explained. "The only reason Sabrina got the axe was because a good amount of us agreed that her grudge against Fez and her shitty attitude was annoying as fuck. It's likely that if she hadn't done anything, you'd be home right now."

Aura looked down, thinking about it. Aspen, seeing this, glowered at the Hypno. "What the hell is your problem? Just yesterday you were giving her advice, and now that she's done it, you're saying that it meant nothing?!"

"All I'm saying that there is more to be done if you want to avoid the bottom two as a whole," Pia explained. "I'm sure that you'd rather have no chance of being there…"

"Of course!" Aura exclaimed. "I'm here to win"

"We _all_ are here to win," Pia retorted. "You're gonna have to show a bit more initiative and promise if you're gonna make it further."

"Pia, I'm sorry, but you're _not_ helping," Aspen replied. "There are plenty of other people on our team who have done fuck all to move us forward, so singling out Aura over that is complete bullshit."

"Well, the reason for that is because she made herself a target with her early-on bitchiness. People still remember that, you know. Then, looking forward, like I said yesterday, Lassie being here pretty much makes you, Freezeo, Dhaunt, and Marion completely obsolete in the helpful department. Sure, having a few extra can't hurt, but-"

"Okay, then by that logic, Brian being here renders _you_ obsolete," Aspen countered as Aura continued listening and thinking. "Don't need two psychic-types, now do we?"

"Brian is an inventor and I am just a psychic-type who delves into conspiracies in her spare time," Pia explained. "Two completely different uses, but the same typing. Meanwhile, Dhaunt and Marion are more or less the same person since they're both nice and do nothing of interest, and you and Freezeo are both useless in team challenges other than saying things every now and then. Only in your case, it's usually snarky or negative…"

"So this isn't about type coverage, it's about _personality_ ," Aspen reasoned.

"Yes. All of these shows are pretty much popularity contests with challenges thrown in," Pia explained. "People show up, get into teams, do challenges, and then vote each other out based on whether they like someone or not. The automatic eliminations and finales are the only exceptions."

"Okay, we're done listening to you," Aspen said as she stood up and started walking away. "Aura?"

The shiny Glaceon let out a sigh before sulking behind her friend. Pia remained standing there, a smirk appearing on her face as the two canids departed.

 **000**

" **Idiots," Pia stated. "These games are all about strategy and getting the upper hand on the other guy. I didn't show any of that back on Parafrosyni, but now that I'm here, I intend on keeping things interesting for myself."**

" **Getting rid of Aura didn't work so well last time, so I guess I'll wait a while longer to get rid of her. But, that doesn't mean I can't still fuck with her head. Hell, some of the popularity stuff is true, but most of the time, it's all just strategy."**

 **000**

" **I'm starting not to trust Pia…" Aspen admitted. "She was willing to help Aura and give advice yesterday, but now she's giving these spiels about how others are more useful or useless and how popularity votes are the main votes that are placed."**

" **I don't know what the hell she's trying to do, but I don't like it. Aura did well in the last challenge and she's going to do just as well in this next challenge, if not better!"**

 **000**

" **I just feel confused. I mean, they're still voting me into the bottom even though I haven't been doing anything harmful. I'm trying to be better! If I'm still being helpful on this team and I end up being eliminated before people like Cramad or Dhaunt, I'm going to be peeved," Aura stated, slamming a paw down.**

 **000**

Freezeo was lying on Brian's bed in his lair. The Cryogonal didn't really feel like speaking to or bothering with the self-proclaimed diabolical mastermind, as he thought that he had a few screws loose, but Pia wanted him to try and get comfortable with him.

Currently, the Crystallizing Pokemon was reading a comic book called _Among the Distorted_ , which had the Devil of the Pokemon World, Giratina, on the cover. As he read through the fictional story, a sudden explosion scared him, making him jump.

Freezeo looked over to Brian saw him sitting at a table, coughing out smoke. He groaned. "What did you do, now?"

Brian coughed again. "Well, fool, I was trying to create a serum that will cause intense gastrointestinal distress in order to spike the opposing team. That uh… that suicide thing really bugged me a bit, so, I'm gonna try to make them lose so they can vote out the uncompassionate tomb of ghostliness!"

"Wait, aren't you 'supreme evil'?" Freezeo queried. "Why are you caring about that?"

Brian gave him a look. "I may be evil, but evil is not without a heart. We vanquished the annoying hate bird, so now it is time to bust a ghost coffin."

Freezeo was surprised. He thought that someone as content with being bad as him would show absolutely no care for others. His plan was great, but he suddenly thought about it. "But… what if they just eliminate someone else instead? I honestly don't even know what to expect in this game anymore and frankly, I'm scared."

"Well, fear is something that I usually love to cause, but in this game, I'm unsure about it, myself," Brian admitted. "It seems that the overall ambience of this season is dark and brooding. Victini _is_ the host, so that should be expected at this point in time."

"Everyone is on edge," Freezeo replied. "The past keeps being brought up, people are acting cold for no reason, the people who are _really_ nice are ignored…"

"The darkness of this season is influencing everyone. You guys have been in this dreaded game for years, yet most of you are still acting like things are brand new," Brian explained as he picked up another test tube from a case beside him. "I came in during the last season, and I already know what to expect, therefore, I face no changes. You and your 'friends' need to realize that clinging to what happened to you prior to this season, as well as continuing to feed into Victini's hand, is completely bad for you."

Freezeo blinked. Had Brian just made sense of this entire game in the span of a minute? Not only that, but a phrase stuck with him immediately. "What do you mean 'feed into Victini's hand'?"

"After watching several clips from this wretched series, I discovered that Victini was once locked away in a chamber of dark aura," Brian explained. "I believe that, after that, he began getting worse and worse, thriving off of the anger and depression that emerge from you all every time he announces a particularly dangerous or idiotic challenge."

Freezeo was astonished, unable to respond.

"If you all actually start ignoring him and just take the challenges as they are without complaints…" Brian continued, pouring the liquid from the first tube into a beaker. The beaker began to bubble and vibrate, making him shield his face. Eventually, the beaker stopped, with a light pink fog emerging from it. "...Victini may very well stop trying so hard…"

"That… that actually makes sense," the Crystallizing Pokemon stated. "But, I don't think that he'll just outright stop trying to torture us…"

"You'll just have to wait and see…" Brian said, stirring his concoction by swirling it.

Freezeo was left in complete and utter awe. Swallowing, he floated back over to Brian's bed, grabbing his comic once again.

 **000**

" **I don't know whether to believe Brian… or smack him," Freezeo explained. "A lot of what he said makes sense, but I don't really see the dark aura thing being that plausible. However, the challenge thing and ignoring him seems to make sense."**

 **000**

Marion, Dhaunt, and Phill were standing on top of the cliff, with Marion holding her skateboard. "This looks perfect," the Marionette Pokemon stated.

"Uh… why are we up here exactly?" asked Phill, who decided to tag along with them work a while out of boredom.

"Dude, this slope is perfect for skateboarding," Marion replied, gesturing to the downward slope. "I can't believe that I never thought about it until now!"

"Well, I don't really like skateboarding all that much," Phill replied with a shrug. "Never really got into it. And it just seems like too much work."

"Wait, you were the one to volunteer to bungee jump for our team," Dhaunt chimed in. "How do you think that skateboarding is too much work?"

"Bungee jumping is just when you jump once and bounce up by itself," Phill explained, folding his arms. "Skateboarding, there's all this momentum, and trying to do tricks, and it's just too much for me…"

"Oh come on, it's not _that_ bad," Marion said, as she jumped onto her board and started rolling down.

Going down, Marion jumped up, with her board flipping in the process as she continued going down. She jumped over stones and rocks in the way before skidding to a stop at the bottom. "See! It's not _that_ hard!" she shouted up.

Dhaunt gave her a thumbs up, while Phill stared down in silence. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass," he said as Marion floated back up.

"Come on Phill, just give it a try!" Marion urged pushing him back up before handing him her board. "You may like it!"

Phill gave her a look before looking at the skateboard in his hands. He let out a sigh. He didn't want to, but he decided to give it a try anyway. "Fine…"

Phill placed the skateboard down on the ground and stood upon it. The weird feeling under his feet made him a bit uncomfortable. "Uh… so… why does it feel like sandpaper?"

"That's just how it is. Not all skateboards are like that," Marion explained. "So, get going…"

Phill looked down at the ramp and rose a brow. "Well, uh… I don't know anymore…"

Dhaunt shoved him a bit, causing him to start rolling a bit. The Raticate gave him a look. "Really? Just rea-LLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Marion smacked Dhaunt because of that. "Not cool…"

Phill was unintentionally moving the skateboard back and forth while trying to stay on.

 **000**

Lassie and Egridos were in front of LeGrae High School. Lassie had gone there to clear her head, not expecting Egridos to float into the scene. Seeing him, she immediately glowered. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Lassie growled, her arms folded.

"Well howdy-do to you, too…" Egridos replied.

"Why the fuck did you treat Vixen's attempted suicide like a joke?!"

"Um, because it _was_ …" Egridos replied. "She knows that we're all immortal, _and_ she's a freaking fire-type. A volcano wouldn't kill her either way! If she _really_ wanted to kill herself, she'd have tried drowning herself in the ocean when we left. That was just done so she could have a memorable elimination..."

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Lassie exclaimed. "If this was how you truly acted toward situations like this, I don't see why I ever married you…"

"Oh please. It's not like you were going to find anyone else anyway," Egridos replied. "Seriously, you're just a quiet, sneaky bitch. Nothing more to you…"

In response, Lassie used Ice Beam, freezing him solid. "Take that, you cold-hearted prick…"

"CONTESTANTS! MEET US AT THE CLIFF IN FIVE MINUTES FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE! TIME FOR ANOTHER THROWBACK!"

"Cliff?" Lassie queried to herself before sighing. "Great, we get to jump off of the cliff again. _Wonderful…_ "

She looked at Egridos' frozen form, smiling deviously as she floated toward the cliff for the challenge.

 **000**

" **Screw him. Maybe if he's late for the challenge, his team has more reason to eliminate him," Lassie reasoned, folding her arms.**

 **000**

All of the contestants made their way to the cliff, context clues and location making it all too obvious what their next challenge was going to be. However, knowing Victini, there was more than likely going to be a sick twist.

As they waited for Mew and Victini to arrive, a wet Phill limped up the cliff with a broken skateboard. He tossed the pieces to Dhaunt and Marion. "Never… again!"

"So, you tried skateboarding?" Kojo chimed in.

"Yes! And it was the worst experience ever!" Phill exclaimed, lifting his right foot. "I was practically pushed down and rolled a long time. Then I rolled into a rock, which launched me into a fucking puddle and made me twist my ankle!"

"Well, hopefully that won't stop you from participating in this next challenge," Marie commented, her arms folded.

"Okay, but if I fuck up, I blame them," he said, pointing to Dhaunt and Marion.

A few seconds later, Victini teleported into the seen, with Mew following shortly after, holding a can of soda with a straw inside of it.

"Welcome to you guys' next challenge!" Victini announced enthusiastically.

None of the contestants showed any emotion, as they only stared at him with narrowed eyes. Despite seeing their detached glances, Victini's smile remained as Mew took a sip of his Phanta.

"As you may have already guessed, today's challenge is an homage to our first ever challenge: diving off of a cliff," Victini revealed. "However, which all of you may have guessed as well, with a new season, comes new twists. So, Mew… explain."

Mew sighed, putting his beverage down on the ground. "Today's challenge is rather simple, but also annoying."

"Two at a time, a player from each team will dive off of the cliff and into the water below. Down below, there is a pool full of granite stones. You must try to land directly inside of the pool and retrieve a stone. Once you have a stone, you must swim to the shore and use them to spell the word 'Win'," Mew explained tonelessly. "The first team to spell out 'Win', well... wins."

"And in addition, if you do _not_ land in the pool, not only will you have to dive again until you hit the pool, you have to avoid the Sharpedo and Bruxish that will more than likely try to grind your bodies into mush," Victini chirped.

"Yep. It wouldn't be a modern challenge without something that'll make us _wish_ we could die," Annie commented, folding her arms.

"Precisely," Victini replied as he started floating down the cliff. "Now, get the challenge done and I'll see the winners on shore."

Mew decided to remain on the top of the cliff to watch over the contestants. He teleported a sofa chair on the cliff and sat down in it, with the contestants gazing at him thoughtfully.

"Mew, you have _got_ to do something!" Morgan stated. "We all know that Victini is the absolute worse! You can't let him keep doing these stupid challenges!"

"Seriously, we just had someone try to commit suicide yesterday, and he's acting like it never happened!" Fez chimed in. "I think that's cause for a break from challenges; I'm sure a lot of us are getting stressed over this bullshit already!"

"Don't you think I've already brought that up?" Mew queried, raising a brow.

"Wait, you _did_?" Aura asked, surprised.

"Of course," Mew replied. "Unlike him, and me over ten years ago, I actually give a damn about you guys. But, you guys know Victini. He doesn't care."

"Well, shit talking him won't solve anything now will it?" Freezeo chimed in. "As long as we continue moaning and groaning, he'll just keep on doing dumber and crazier challenges, so… Let's just get through this."

"Freezeo's right," Pia spoke up. "Victini's going to be Victini no matter what we say or do, so let's just get this over with."

 **-000-**

"I'll go first," Sparky told the Lugias as he approached the edge of the cliff.

"Whatever," Amethyst replied, rolling her eyes.

Hearing the lack of emotion in her tone, Sparky smirked a bit, pleased by her attitude. " _Someone's pissy_ …"

The Luxray dove off of the cliff.

"I guess I'll go first…" Dhaunt suggested, turning to his team before cracking his knuckles. "Make myself useful for once…"

"Uh, are you sure about-" Marion began.

He jumped after Sparky, screaming on his way down, before she could finish.

 **-000-**

Landing in the pool, Sparky almost hit his head on the stones in the bottom. The initial smack on the water's surface knocked the wind out of him, but he swiftly swam up to the surface to get a breath of air.

"Fuck me…" he groaned, panting.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Looking up, the Luxray saw a Gengar plummeting down before smacking the ocean's surface, completely missing the pool. He snickered as he dove back down into the pool. He picked up one of the stones and wrapped his tail around it, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold it in his paws.

Swimming back up, he heard yells of pain as Dhaunt floated out of the water to avoid being attacked by the Bruxish and Sharpedo. Dhaunt floated back up to the top of the cliff, knowing that he'd have to try again.

Looking out of the pool, he saw Sharpedo fins and Bruxish protuberances swimming around the pool and glared. He used Thunderbolt on the water, electrocuting everything in the ocean.

He noticed the Sharpedo and Bruxish around the area started rising to the surface, fainted. Sparky smirked as he climbed out of the pool and started swimming to the shore.

The stone was pretty heavy and slowing him down a bit, making it more difficult than it needed to be. After a while, the Gleam Eyes made it to shore, panting in exhaustion.

Victini, wearing sunglasses, was lying on a beach chair watching a screen. Noticing that the Luxray was now on the beach, he smirked.

"Well? Get spelling, rapist…" Victini said as he focused his attention back on the screen.

Sparky tightened his glare at the Victory Pokemon before walking up and placing the first stone in a decent location.

As he started heading back up, he heard Victini speak, making him turn his head. "Oh, and before I forget, tell the others that _everyone_ on each team has to dive and make it in the pool at least once before someone is able to go twice."

Sparky rolled his eyes and started heading back to the cliff. On the way, his father appeared next to him. _"Or you can just tell_ _ **your**_ _team, minimizing the chances of you losing and getting voted out."_

"And what makes you think that _I'll_ be the one going home?" Sparky retorted.

" _Considering that the bitches and fag are planning it, and the slut's remarkable performance in the previous challenge pushes the narrative that_ _ **you**_ _forced_ _ **her**_ _, it's inevitable,"_ Luthor replied. " _You're such a damn fool…"_

"Fuck off!" Sparky snapped. "I didn't even touch that slut, I just set it up so that it looked like she fucked me. These nimrods are just so dense that they actually believed it…"

" _You should have actually done it anyway," Luthor replied. "You had the PERFECT opportunity!"_

"I'M NOT A RAPIST LIKE YOU…" Sparky growled. "Get that through your fucking head…"

In response, Luthor socked him in the side of the face before pinning him down to the ground, choking him. " _We've talked about this already, you unwanted spawn. You don't_ _ **ever**_ _disrespect me, unless you want to have an early grave. I swear, I should have forced your whore mother to swallow…"_

Luthor slammed Sparky's head against the ground, knocking him out.

 **-000-**

"Alright, who's next?" Ace asked, glancing over the edge.

"I say that we have the weaker swimmers go first in order to get them out of the way," Sally suggested. "That way, we can focus on the-"

"Wait, why don't we just have Taylor, Sparky, and Sally keep going?" Frosty interrupted. "Taylor's long body can make it so he swims quickly, and Sally and Sparky are both electric-types, so they'll be good against the Sharpedo and Bruxish."

"Yeah, that's perfect!" Sola expressed with a smile.

"And if we lose, we can still vote for Sparky since he's involved…" Morgan added.

"Wait, why Sparky?" Frosty explained. "Vixen was the one who-"

"He _lied_ to you, Frosty," Shine interrupted, giving him a look. "He hardly showed any concern for her despite what he supposedly said to you. Get your head out of the gutter!"

Frosty took a 'step' back at the outburst. And, thinking about it, what Shine was saying _did_ make sense. Sparky hardly seemed to care at all. He sighed.

"Taylor, you go ahead and we'll wait for you," Ashton told the Milotic, who nodded.

As he slithered off the edge, a sopping wet Gengar floated up the cliff with bite marks on him. "I hate everything…"

The Ho-Ohs took note of this and proceeded as Dhaunt floated over.

"Alright, I'll go next," Annie said, looking over the edge before jumping off.

 **-000-**

Taylor landed halfway in the pool and halfway out of it. He groaned, his head resting on the stones at the bottom of the pool. His tail was in the ocean, but it seemed that his fellow aquatic Pokemon didn't really seem bothered with him.

Annie screamed as she descended toward the water. Luckily for her, however, she smacked against Taylor's tail, grabbing onto it. She groaned, holding her head, before looking around and seeing a few fins heading for her.

Gasping, Annie quickly climbed up Taylor's body before jumping into the pool. She swam down to the bottom, attempting to pick up a decently sized stone, only for it to not budge.

" _Oh come on!_ " she thought to herself as she tried to pick up one of the stones. She was able to lift one of them a few centimeters off of the pool floor, only to drop it.

 **000**

" **Yeah… I may need to start working out my arms a bit more…" Annie said, looking at her small arms.**

 **000**

Regaining his composure, Taylor slithered inside of the pool, grabbing a stone with one of his eyebrow tendrils. Once he grabbed it, he exited the pool and started swimming toward the beach. Annie picked up a smaller stone, one that she was actually able to hold, and started climbing out. Upon climbing out, she was immediately met with a group of Sharpedo and Bruxish surrounding the pool, eyeing her as she held her stone.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me…" Annie groaned. Looking at her stone, she sighed. She swirled around, causing numerous pink petals to swirl around her. It turned into a tornado shortly after, striking all of the fish Pokemon.

 **-000-**

Taylor was slithering back to the top of the cliff with a smirk. On his way up, he noticed Sparky's unconscious form and rose a brow. Using one of his eyebrows, he grabbed Sparky's tail and started dragging him up with him.

The Milotic came up with the Luxray in his grasp.

"Look what I found," he said, tossing the Gleam Eyes Pokemon forward.

"What the-" Sola started. "Why's he unconscious?"

Taylor shook his head. "Don't look at me. When I was coming up, he was already knocked out."

"Ugh, so much for having him go repeatedly," Amethyst grumbled, her sails turning a faint red color. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Hey, we still have Sally," Carson chimed in, trying to alleviate her anger. "She could be just as effective…"

"Yeah, I mean I could go. Jet taught me how to swim faster while holding things," Sally explained. "He tells me to hold a fifty pound weight ball while swimming in our pool so that I'll be able to rely mostly on my legs while also getting stronger arms."

"Nice, but also… weird," Holly commented, unsure about how to feel about that.

"Yeah," Sally replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sally, you may want to shake a leg, I see Annie starting to come to the cliff, again," Connor said, looking over the side of the cliff.

Immediately, Sally nodded before running to the edge of the cliff and leaping off.

 **-000-**

The Ampharos screamed as she landed _next_ to the pool. Rising to the surface, she took a breath before growling. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

She found herself being surrounded by Sharpedo and Bruxish immediately, making her pale. Immediately, she used Thunder, shocking everything in the water with her before she started swimming back to the shore.

There, she saw Victini chuckling. Giving him a glare in response, she started heading back toward, and up, the cliff.

 **-000-**

Annie panted, dripping water from her body as she finally made it to the top of the cliff.

"Summer, are you a strong swimmer?" Aspen queried upon seeing the Flower Pokemon come back over. "If not, you can go ahead and get your turn over with."

"I'm a decent swimmer," Summer responded. "But, I can just go. I won't be as effective and it'll be some trouble, but it'll be better for me to go and try now…"

"Alright, if you say so," Marie replied.

The Typhlosion took a deep breath before rushing toward and jumping off of the edge of the cliff.

Kojo, having seen this, had his eyes widen in worry. Immediately, his foot started tapping before he moved toward the edge and peered down, only to see that Summer _hadn't_ landed in the pool. His eyes twitched and he growled.

"Kojo, Sally didn't even make it in the pool. Once she does that, _then_ you can have your turn to go," Morgan stated, seeing what he was doing. She knew his reasoning of suddenly rushing to the edge and looking down, but she didn't want him breaking the rules and having Victini disqualify them.

As Kojo got to his feet, Sally rushed up, out of breath. She started running toward the edge and jumped off again, hoping to make it into the pool.

 **-000-**

Summer had landed in the ocean and was surprised to see that a good majority of the fish were still unconscious from Sally's previous attack. Swimming awkwardly to the beach, Summer panted as she kicked her small legs and moved her arms.

"This fucking sucks…" she said between breaths.

She made it to the beach, walking on all fours before standing up, she wiped her face off and started heading to the cliff, passing an irritated glare toward Victini, who simply waved mockingly.

Huffing, she started walking to the cliff, glancing the stones sitting on the beach. There was a red line in the sand separating each team's progress. So far each team only had two stones.

She continued heading back to the cliff after seeing that.

 **-000-**

Landing in the pool the second time, Sally was able to successfully pick up a stone and start climbing out of the pool. Getting out, she saw that a decent amount of the fish Pokemon had regained consciousness and were glaring daggers at her.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me right now…" she groaned to herself. She didn't want to bother with these fish, so she used Thunder once again, knocking them all out. "Now STAY DOWN!" she shouted aggressively.

She dove into the water with the stone in her arms. She continued swimming to the shore, focusing on finishing the challenge. Each team lost a player yesterday, and while her team was focusing on eliminating Sparky and Egridos, she was worried about the numbers.

Having less team players could very well hinder their progress, but it was the name of the game, so she couldn't really complain. As she reached the sandy beach, she quickly rushed to the right side of the red line, placing her team's third stone.

Before going back up, a thought entered her brain. She moved the stones out of the way for a brief moment before using her foot to spell out 'WIN', not in all caps, but in a normal fashion with lowercase letters.

After dotting the 'I', she nodded to herself. She placed her team's three stones along the layout of the 'W'. She quickly started rushing toward the cliff.

Victini, seeing what she did, shrugged. "Smart trick…"

 **-000-**

Summer sighed as she approached the edge of the cliff once again. She had to catch her breath after rushing back up the cliff; she was prepared to try again.

Jumping off the cliff, she aimed for the pool. The Bruxish and Sharpedo, growing more and more agitated, began leaping from the water, snapping. Her eyes widened as she smacked the pool, knocking the wind out of her.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and lifted her head. If they weren't immortal, she would have likely died then and there. She held her head from the impact, groaning in pain as she floated in the water.

Seconds later, Kojo landed similarly to Taylor, landing on his stomach with a groan before sliding into the pool. Summer jumped at the sudden appearance before gasping in worry and fishing out her boyfriend. She brought him to the surface and laid him against the side of the pool, with him groaning and holding his stomach.

"Babe, are you okay?" she asked in concern, shaking him a bit.

"SUMMER! FOCUS ON THE CHALLENGE!" the Typhlosion faintly heard from above. Looking up, she saw a couple of blue figures gazing over the edge, along with a few others.

"WE NEED TO ACTUALLY WIN! WORRY ABOUT HIM LATER!" she heard.

She looked at Kojo, who was slowly regaining his composure. She sighed in relief before diving into the pool to retrieve a stone.

Kojo, still trying back in the right state of mind, held his head while holding on to rim of the pool. However, a harsh thump shook the pool and a sharp pain coursed through him, causing him to shout out as he brought his paws back. Not only was a chunk of the pool gone, but his left paw was bleeding from the sharp teeth of the Sharpedo.

This got him back in his right state of mind. The pain in his gut was still there, but the stinging of the bite overtook it. "FUCK ME!"

Breathing through the pain, Kojo noticed Summer beginning to climb out of the pool and dove down to collect a stone of his own.

 **000**

 **Kojo's left paw was now bandaged, stains of blood . "Well, they can forget about casting me for Sharknado VIV!" he exclaimed angrily.**

 **000**

Summer growled as she looked around in the water; they were surrounded. And with her being a fire-type, she was definitely going to have some issues. Kojo climbed up beside her before firing an Aura sphere into the water, causing the water to push them back.

"You go first and I'll cover you," Kojo stated.

"What about your team?" Summer asked. "They'll eliminate you if you help me out…"

"I just got bit," Kojo replied, showing his still bleeding wound. "I honestly don't care anymore. If they vote me out for not wanting you to be really hurt, then fuck them. Now go!"

Nodding, Summer jumped onto the water with her rock. Instantly, as the water-types approached, Kojo used Aura Sphere on each one that headed her way.

Summer continued swimming, feeling ever more awkward with a stone under one of her arms. She couldn't lose it or else she was screwed.

 **000**

" **Okay, I totally owe Kojo for risking himself to help me get back to the beach. If you're watching, honey, I love you…" Summer said with a wink.**

 **000**

Once Summer was on shore again, Kojo was able to sigh in relief. He didn't care if he was berated by his teammates; he wasn't going to let the only person able to make him happy get hurt. Holding his stone and feeling warm blood slowly trickle from his paw, he already knew that he was going to be in for a rough time, especially with the Bruxish, who were part psychic-type.

He took a deep breath before firing Aura Spheres at all of the Sharpedo and Bruxish in his path. While the Sharpedo that were hit either swam away or fainted, the Bruxish remained vigilant and a few of their eyes glowed red, causing Kojo to be surrounded in a red aura which faded away after a while.

As he tried to use Aura Sphere again, he found that he was now unable to, as if all of his power for that move had been drained. "Damn it…" he cursed as he looked out into the water and saw the Bruxish start trying to leap toward and snap at him.

Kojo groaned and just surrounded himself in a light blue aura before a ball formed around him. Bending his knees, he did a grand leap, leaping in the direction of the beach. He bounced off of one of the fainted Sharpedo on the surface before landing on the beach with his stone.

"Ffffuck!" he yelled, shaking his burning paw. He walked over to his team's side and placed down the stone he had.

He turned to Victini, who was sipping lemonade, and started walking toward him.

 **-000-**

Summer made it back to the top of the cliff, which immediately allowed Aura to run forward without a second thought. She leapt off of the cliff before firing Ice Beam toward the pool. She was able to quickly create an icy platform, which she landed on harshly, causing it to crack a bit.

The Glaceon groaned, getting on her feet. She shook herself off before walking forward and leaping into the pool with ease. She swam down and lifted up one of the stones. She swam back to the surface with her stone, noticing the chunk taken out of it.

Aura used Ice Beam on the water out of the pool, freezing all of the water-types. She hopped out, landing on the ice she created. She dragged the stone behind her with her tail as she created an icy path to the shore.

"Easy as pie…"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" she heard as she turned back and saw Connor fall straight through the ice platform she had created. She groaned. She had hopes that the platform could be used by her own team to ensure that they made it into the pool.

Now seeing that _that_ wouldn't be the case, she continued forward, sliding onto the shore. She continued dragging the stone to her team's side, and she took notice at the fact that the Lugias' side already had 'Win' spelled.

She turned to Victini with a glare. "Hey! What's the big idea here? Why do they have it already spelled in the sand?!"

"The big idea is that _they_ did that in preparation and made it much easier for themselves," Victini replied. "I highly advise you to try and do the same."

Aura growled to herself. It would waste _some_ time, but, hearing Connor's multiple screams of pain, she figured that she would be alright. She started using her paw to spell 'Win' in the sand for the Ho-Ohs' side.

 **-000-**

"What the hell happened to just continuing to use Taylor, Sparky, and Sally?!" Amethyst exclaimed, her sails now a deep red.

"I told him that we would be fine!" Taylor replied. "I guess he just wants to prove himself…"

"Well, he just bought the other team more time by missing…" Shine chimed in.

"Oh please, Kojo literally _helped_ the other team just because of Summer," Taylor replied. "Don't just blame Connor!"

"And I already got my punishment for what I did," Kojo explained, lifting his bandaged paw.

"How bad is it?" Holly queried, floating up next to him.

"Well, it stings like a bitch and I can barely move it, so, hmm… pretty bad," Kojo replied. "And it doesn't help that all Victini did was get Zahku to wrap it."

Holly gasped. "It could get infected!"

Hearing that, Kojo remembered something. Klavier _had_ mentioned that Holly wanted to become a nurse, so she could be able to help him feel better.

"Klavier told me that you wanted to be a nurse," Kojo expounded. "Do you have anything that can help with the pain?"

"Can I see it?"

Kojo lifted his left paw and started using his right one to unwrap the bandages. The mustelid's purple paw had seven bloody puncture marks straight across, almost making it look like it was severed.

Holly hissed, as did a few others who saw.

"Okay, what the hell?! Things have _never_ been this fucking bad!" Frosty exclaimed.

"Actually, it has, this is just the first time we've had an actual injury from it," Shine explained.

"Hmm, you say that you can't really move it, right?" Holly asked in concern. "Move your fingers…"

Kojo winced as he attempted to move his paw. It moved slightly, but not majorly. "Damn it, this hurts…"

"Okay, you just need peroxide, stitches, and rest." Holly explained. "So, as much as you hate it, you won't be able to pick up Summer or anything with your left hand for a while."

"I thought we were supposed to be immortal…" Sally chimed in.

"That means we can't die; it doesn't mean we can't get injured," Sola explained with a shrug. "Also, all we have to do is ask Mew to heal him and he'll be good as new again."

The Lugias nodded and murmured in agreement as Morgan suddenly realized something. Taking notice of her puzzled expression, Ashton tapped her with a vine. "Something wrong, Morgan?"

"Sorta…" she said, looking around. It was then that she realized what was wrong. "We're missing a pest…"

Hearing that, the Lugias looked around, seeing that she was correct. Egridos wasn't around.

"Huh, no wonder I haven't been holding any resentment," Sally replied.

Suddenly, groaning was heard and they all turned to see Sparky slowly getting onto his feet.

 **-000-**

Aura came up the cliff with a smirk, much to the others' annoyance.

"What took you so long?!" Anthony exclaimed.

"I was working on some prep for us on the beach," the shiny Glaceon responded simply. "Now, whoever's going next needs to just go, now!"

"Who's the next weak swimmer?" Marie queried.

"I mean, if you guys want, I can just go…" Freezeo offered.

"Wait a second...this is a throwback to season one…" Cramad recalled. "That means we can use more unconventional methods; Victini didn't even say we couldn't use anything."

"You're right, love!" Titan replied, turning to her lovingly. "This should be a cinch! I'll go next."

He skittered toward the edge and started climbing down the side of the cliff normally. If they were practically allowed to have their own methods, they wouldn't have to worry about the Sharpedo and Bruxish as much. Climbing down the side of the cliff, the Galvantula saw Connor still swimming to the shore.

"Jeez, the boy still hasn't made it to the beach…" Titan commented, shaking his head.

He continued heading down until he felt that he was at a fair enough distance from the pool. He fired an Electroweb over the pool before leaping forward and landing on the web.

He whistled to himself before slashing the web and dropping into the pool. Using another web, he grabbed a stone and started climbing out of the pool. Seeing all of the Sharpedo and Bruxish, Titan used Thunder on the water, knocking out everything.

Due to the constant electric attacks, all of the fish began to evacuate the area, growing agitated.

Titan chuckled at seeing them swim away. "Poor critters…"

He leapt into the water and started swimming, the stone he grabbed started sinking, but he continued pushing himself forward until he eventually made it to shore.

He dragged the stone onto the beach, still surrounded in a web.

 **-000-**

Connor limped up the cliff, his body covered in bite marks and dripping a combination of water and blood.

Making it to the top, he groaned and just collapsed, with Taylor gasping and rushing over to him. The others, seeing the Bouffalant's injured form, grew a bit nervous.

"Carson! Ashton! Come on, you've gotta help him!" Taylor pleaded. "He's gonna have to go again and I don't want him getting worse than this…"

"Since when do you care so much about Connor?" Shine queried.

"Does it matter!?" Taylor exclaimed. "He has to go again and make it in the pool or else _they_ will get ahead and win!"

"And, and we should _really_ be looking for Egridos," Sparky said.

"Oh? And why is that?" Sally queried, tightening her glare at him while folding her arms.

"Uh, because Victini said that everyone on each team has to go at least once before people are able to go repeatedly," Sparky explained. "Therefore, with Egridos being-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where the hell did you acquire _this_ info?" Morgan asked, suspecting deceit.

"On my way back up here, the bastard told me to tell everyone that bullshit rule," the Luxray explained.

"You're damn right it's bullshit. Why the hell would he entrust just _you_ to deliver that information?" Amethyst growled.

"Can someone explain to me why she's so pissed at me?" Sparky asked. "I've quite literally done nothing to her…"

"Yeah, sorry, but I don't believe that," Morgan stated. "I doubt that Victini would be _that_ idiotic."

Sparky shook his head. They needed to listen to him; he was actually telling the truth this time! But, he realized that because of them either figuring out the truth or moving past it, they were likely not going to listen to him at all.

" _That's probably why that bastard only told ME!"_ he thought to himself. Growling, he ran down the cliff, needing to find Egridos.

" _You've fucked up as usual… Why am I not surprised?"_

Sparky ignored his father's taunting and continued running down.

With him gone, Carson and Ashton went over to their fallen teammate, who was panting softly. Using a combination of Heal Bell and Aromatherapy, Connor's body glowed a light green, with all of his bite marks vanishing.

Groaning, he slowly sat up. "Arceus, that was the worst experience of my life…" Connor remarked.

He suddenly found himself being coiled around and hugged by Taylor, who planted a kiss on his cheek in relief. Seeing this caused a bit of confusion on both teams.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, flag on the play. What the hell was that?" Morgan queried.

"Look, we're together, but it doesn't matter," Taylor replied. "We need to focus on the damned challenge. You good to go, babe?"

Having Taylor show actual, genuine concern and care about him, Connor couldn't help but blush. He swallowed as the Milotic's eyes focused on him. "Um… yeah, yeah… I'm okay. You can put me down now. I don't _want_ to even go again if I'm gonna go through that again."

"Well, too bad," Sally commented. "You jumped, so now you have to go again until you land in that pool and get a stone."

"I know that," Connor replied, walking toward the edge. "I didn't say I _wasn't_ gonna go, just that I didn't _want_ to…"

As he prepared to jump, Taylor gained an idea. "Connor, wait! I have an idea!"

 **-000-**

"Did… Taylor just kiss Connor. And… show concern?" Pia queried, completely taken aback, as was Brian.

"Hey! Worry about their escapades later, we still need to focus," Marie stated.

"We're jumping off of a cliff, Marie. What focus do those of us who're waiting have to have?" Phill queried, raising a brow.

"Focus on making it in the damn pool somehow," Marie explained simply. "Now, who's going when Titan comes up?"

"I'll go," Aspen volunteered.

Titan scuttled up the cliff, panting, before standing next to his team. As if on cue, Aspen rushed forward before leaping off the cliff. Looking back up, she noticed that Taylor was slowly lowering Connor a bit, making her eyes widen.

"Fuck, we could have just-"

She hit the water of the pool before she could even finish her statement. She quickly swam back up to the surface, panting. A few seconds later, she heard screaming and looked up, only to see Connor heading for her.

She paled and tried to move out of the way, but the Bouffalant landed with a large splash, forcing a fair amount of the water out of the pool.

Aspen growled to herself before picking up a stone with her forepaws. "Fuck, I didn't think about this…"

Connor attempted to pull himself out of the pool, realizing that he was unable to retrieve a stone for his team. He sighed to himself.

Aspen was is a similar boat, as she needed her front paws free in order to be able to doggy paddle. With a sigh, she leapt into the water with the stone, figuring that she might as well try. While Connor swam rather easily to the shore, with the absence of the fish, Aspen struggled to move the stone between her haunches so that she could use her front paws a bit freely.

She swam after him steadily, making sure that she kept her stone.

 **-000-**

Connor made it to the shore and started heading back toward the cliff again, with Victini chortling at his poor luck.

Using what all he had left in the tank, he moved to the cliff and charged up it. Within twenty seconds, the Bash Buffalo Pokemon made it back to the top of the cliff. He panted heavily from the running and just lied down.

"Okay, I wasn't able… to keep hold of a stone… so, sorry," he panted out.

"Taylor, you better make up for your boyfriend's mistake," Morgan commented. "Get down there and get us another stone."

"Wait, didn't Sparky say that-"

"Frosty, haven't we already discussed this? Listening to Sparky, right now, is completely out of the picture," Sola replied. "So, Taylor, get going…"

Taylor nodded as he slithered off of the edge, heading straight for the pool.

 **000**

Sparky was looking around the island, trying to find any sign of the annoying coffin. He had checked the Winner's Cabin, gazebo, the gym, and through the forest, but came up empty. Eventually, the Luxray came upon the frozen body of the Cofagrigus near LeGrae High School.

"What the…"

His tail glowed and he swung it toward the coffin, breaking the ice around him. Upon being freed, Egridos simply blinked and turned to the lion. "Took one of ya long enough…"

"What? Were you just fucking _waiting_ here?"

"Pretty much," the ghost-type replied. "Usually the dipshit hosts teleport whoever isn't present to the challenge area. But, i'm guessing they didn't do it this time around. Oh well..."

"Oh well my ass," Sparky stated. "Come on, we've got a challenge to do and _everyone_ has to be involved…"

"Alright, whatever," Egridos muttered, rolling his eyes.

"How the hell did you get frozen anyway?" Sparky queried.

"Blame my ex-wife…" Egridos replied tonelessly.

 **000**

"Lassie, why don't you go next?" Cramad suggested. "Then I'll go after you."

"Uh, why me exactly?" Lassie countered. "Last time I checked, Freezeo was the worst ice-type on the team. No offense, of course…"

"When was that even verified?!" Freezeo exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter. Just know that once Aspen gets back up here, you need to be ready," Lassie stated, folding her arms. "I'll go _after_ Cramad, then I guess Brian, Phill, Klavier, and Fez can go. That way we'll finish off our weak links…"

"HEY!" all of the guys exclaimed in protest.

"Oh pipe down, I'm included in that pile," Lassie replied, hearing their discontent. "Plus, I mean weak for this challenge. Don't get your panties in a twist…"

"We don't wear clothes. At least unless we feel like it," Phill replied.

Lassie rolled her eyes as the sound of approaching pawpads got everyone's attention. Aspen panted, her fur dripping wet as she approached her team.

"Freezeo, your turn," Pia instructed to the Cryogonal, pointing to the cliff's edge.

The Crystallizing Pokemon sighed. "Fine…"

"Okay, I really don't get why you guys are being so slow and hesitant," Marie stated. "You are literally floating right now… JUST GO!"

Freezeo, being told this and remembering that there was no rule about it, immediately picked up speed and floated down the cliff quickly.

Floating down, he approached the pool, only for an Eelektross to emerge from the water and leap upwards toward him. He yelled out in fear and surprise, using Ice Beam , which was easily dodgeable by the eel. Freezeo swiftly entered the pool and, using his chains, picked up a stone.

He was electrocuted by the Eelektross, making him groan in pain as he continued toward the shore. "Arceus damn this show! Where the hell did this thing even come from?!"

He made it to the shore, where he sighed in relief. "Finally!" he bellowed before turning to Victini. "You didn't mention any Eelektross!"

"Well, the other fish ran away like bitches due to electricity, so… I brought in a few others that wouldn't…" Victini explained with a smile.

Freezeo let out a sigh before floating to his team's side and dropping the stone in the right position, finishing their 'W'.

"Yes!"

Suddenly, the blaring of a megaphone was heard. "THE HORRIBLE HO-OHS HAVE FINISHED THEIR FIRST LETTER! YOU LUGIAS HAD BETTER CATCH UP!"

Freezeo growled, his 'ears' ringing due to the close proximity.

 **-000-**

Taylor made it back up the cliff with a glare on his face, shaking a bit due to being shocked by the Eelektross. "I. Hate. Victini…"

"What happened?"

"Well, since all of the other fish got scared off by our electric-types, he put in some fucking Eelektross to make things _more_ difficult!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, I'd rather be shocked than bitten," Ace replied.

As that was said, Egridos and Sparky made it up the cliff, the former looking bored. Seeing them approach, the rest of the team glowered at them before continuing. Sparky, seeing that Taylor was glistening, growled.

"Why didn't you guys listen to me!?" Sparky exclaimed. "Now we're fucked!"

"Correction: If we lose this, _you_ are fucked," Shine corrected before turning to Sally. "You ready to go?"

"Yep. Now that they're just Eelektross, this'll be no trouble for me at all…" Sally said confidently.

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Egridos interrupted. "What's spark plug here talking about?"

"Oh, he tried to tell us that Victini only told _him_ about some stupid rule that could fuck us over in the challenge," Morgan replied.

"And you're not listening to him because…?"

"Because he fucking lied over what happened with Vixen!" Amethyst exclaimed angrily.

"And how did you guys come up with that?" Egridos replied, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. "And if it's because of that bogus suicide attempt, I swear you all have gotten dumber over the years…"

"Just because you're an insensitive prick doesn't mean we're all dumb!" Amethyst snapped. "Go fuck yourself!"

"So, because of you guys' stupid sympathy, you ignored something that is most likely true and screwed us over…" Egridos replied. "Nice work, idiots."

"Okay, you know what, Egridos, you're a piece of shit," Connor stated. "If we actually lose this, you deserve to go."

"Yeah, you've been acting like more of an asshole ever since this season started!" Frosty exclaimed.

"Whatever," Egridos replied, rolling his eyes. "You guys are just still as dopey and bitchy as always. _I'll_ go next and _maybe_ salvage us."

"Kiss my ass," Amethyst growled.

"I would, but then you'd be screaming 'sexual abuse' like a regretful skank," Egridos replied as he floated forward. That response was the final straw.

Amethyst, seething with anger and tears starting to form in her eyes, charged at the coffin, who, upon hearing rapid steps coming up behind him, turned around and floated up, causing Amethyst to try and skid to a halt.

She was successful, stopping herself before nearly running off of the cliff.

"Any particular reason you were trying to kamikaze me?" Egridos responded. "I said that I was going…"

"Fuck you!" she cried.

"Whoa, whoa, why are _you_ crying?" Egridos queried. " _You_ just tried to attack _me_ …"

"Egridos, why the fuck are you being such an inconsiderate asshole?!" Connor exclaimed. "You used to be cool!"

"Oh please, I know for a fact that every one of you found me annoying ever since we started getting acquainted. Well, minus Dhaunt, Marion, and… _her_ ," Egridos replied. "Plus, I'm sick of this stupid game. Bullshit rules, asshole contestants, simpletons, dangerous challenges… This shit has gotten more and more annoying since it started! And that's just one reason! _She_ can tell you the other reason…"

Lassie scoffed at his wording, having heard him arrive late, unsurprisingly. "Don't you fucking blame your personality swap on me! _You_ were neglectful, _you_ made me feel alone, _you_ never bothered doing shit with me! So, excuse me if I'm wrong, but if a wife is feeling unsatisfied and unwanted, DOESN'T THAT MAKE IT REASONABLE TO WANT A DIVORCE?!"

"LASSIE!" Marie shouted. "We need to focus on the challenge!"

"No, no, I want to hear this," Lassie said, floating toward the coffin with her arms folded. "Since apparently _him_ making the decision to be a fucking jackass instead of just dealing with it like a man is all _my_ fault, I want to hear his reasoning."

"Oh boy…" Ace commented, sweat dropping.

"Great, now you're making a scene," Egridos commented. "You could have just said that you're fucking divorcing me and we could have just continued with the challenge."

"No. You're a fucking prick. _You_ caused me to _want_ to divorce you. So if you want to blame someone, BLAME YOURSELF!" Lassie exclaimed. "You never want to take fucking responsibility or initiative!"

"I FOUGHT HARD AS FUCK FOR US TO KEEP TRACY! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU CALL THAT?!" he yelled back. "I'VE GONE ON NUMEROUS TRIPS AND DID THESE FUCKING COMMERCIALS FOR US TO HAVE A STABLE HOME LIFE!"

"Oh yeah, a one-story home with a big basement for _you_ to use as a man cave and barely any food in the fridge. Yep, that's stability at its _finest_ , everyone!" Lassie exclaimed.

"Excuse me, _how_ much money did I fucking give you to either _buy food_ or _go shopping_ with?" Egridos exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean-"

"OVER FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!" Egridos yelled at her, making everyone's eyes widen. "You could have gone grocery shopping, bought as much Italiano Harvest as you wanted, bought stuff to decorate the house, _anything_!"

Lassie felt herself start tearing up. "That… doesn't… mean… shit!" she exclaimed.

"How does it not?" Egridos replied. "Please fucking enlighten me how _me_ giving you money to do whatever you fucking wanted doesn't mean anything! I fucking loved you! I wouldn't have given that much money to my own fucking parents!"

"Money doesn't equal happiness, you idiot!" Morgan chimed in. "You have to actually be there for her!"

"Well I'm sorry that my support and what I do upsets you, but if I'm gonna keep getting money by saying my catchphrase and doing goofy shit, I need to stay focused," Egridos replied.

"Yeah, and now you have all of the time in the world," Lassie stated, taking off her ring and throwing it into the ocean below.

Egridos gasped, watching the thousand dollar ring plummet toward the water. Sighing, he just floated down in order to do the challenge.

 **000**

 **Lassie sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye. "Fucking bastard…"**

 **000**

" **Fuck this game…" Egridos stated tonelessly.**

 **000**

Cramad, having already jumped off of the cliff earlier, returned to the top.

"Alright, Lassie. You're up…" Klavier commented.

Lassie didn't respond, her arms folded as she faced away from everyone. She couldn't believe that he was actually blaming _her_ for his issues. Not only was it idiotic, it actually hurt.

"Uh, I don't think now's the best time to talk to her about this challenge," Marion commented, glancing over at her friend.

Anthony groaned.

"Marion, you go," Annie spoke up. "Just float down and get us another stone. We don't really have time to worry about her and Egridos' marriage issues."

Marion gazed thoughtfully at the Snow Land Pokemon before sighing. "Fine…"

She walked to the edge of the cliff before doing a small leap and floating down to the pool. She didn't expect Lassie and Egridos to get in such a passionate argument. Lassie didn't even tell her about all of the money Egridos was giving her.

It was awfully weird. If things were _that_ bad to her, why didn't they just handle this whenever he gave her money? It just seemed weird.

Floating down to the pool, she entered the water and pulled out a stone before floating toward the shore, only to be shocked by the Eelektross that were watching her from the ocean.

She grumbled to herself before continuing to float toward the shore, stone in hands. She dropped the stone over the the first one that made up the 'I'. Now they just needed one more to complete the 'I'.

She noticed all six of the stones on the Lugias' side and gained a mischievous thought. There wasn't a rule against stealing other teams' stones. But, then again, Victini was sitting _right there_ , so he'd likely call her out on it. It felt like a reasonable plan, anyway.

 **-000-**

Egridos floated back up without saying a word. He almost looked… broken at this point. He went from being an annoying snarker, to an asshole, and now to a saddened, soon-to-be divorcé.

"Alright, who's next?" asked Morgan.

"Are you guys going to actually _listen_ to me, now?" Sparky chimed in, ignoring the conversation that was had.

Morgan groaned. "Fine!" she exclaimed before turning to the lion. " _But_ , if it turns out that you're the lying shithead that we know you are, you're out of here. No questions asked…"

Sparky huffed, a smirk spreading on his face. "I'll take that bet. So, would anyone other than those who have already gone like to volunteer?"

The others immediately rolled their eyes at his behavior.

"I'll go," Frosty spoke up. "The other team has been letting their players just float down instead of actually jump…"

"OKAY! I'M GETTING BORED DOWN HERE, SO NO MORE FLOATERS OR FLYINGS! YOU WILL ALL JUMP OFF OF THE CLIFF NORMALLY AND LET GRAVITY DO ITS JOB OR YOUR ENTIRE TEAM WILL BE DISQUALIFIED! THAT IS ALL…"

"Huh. No mention of the 'every player' rule," Sola started, eyeing Sparky suspiciously. "Interesting…"

"Don't even fucking start that with me…" the Gleam Eyes Pokemon growled, glaring daggers at her. "Either jump or shut up…"

Sola tightened her own glare in his direction. He most definitely wasn't in his right state of mind. Suddenly, an idea sprang up in her head. Perhaps Shine could fix him using a psychic-type move or something of the sort.

The Absol nudged the Sun Pokemon, who raised a brow. "Could you fix him?" she whispered.

Shine gave her a thoughtful look. "Maybe. I'm unsure about how effective it'll be. It hasn't worked on Shade as far as I know, but it may have been because he's a dark-type…"

"If we get him normal again, we can just eliminate Egridos and it'll lift off a weight on both teams' shoulders," Sola replied.

The Espeon sighed. "Fine. I don't exactly know how it works, but I'll try."

Her eyes glowed turquoise and an aura enveloped Sparky.

"Okay, I'll get going for us next," Sola replied as she started walking toward the edge of the cliff.

She looked down and took a breath before leaping off.

Watching her, Sparky suddenly began feeling woozy, as if his brain was being compressed. It was an intense, throbbing pain in his head that he couldn't stand. He groaned before looking around and noticing that Shine's eyes were glowing and she was staring directly at him.

He growled as he shakily walked toward her. "Y-You… fucking…." he didn't even get to finish, as he collapsed.

"Uh… what'd you do?" Taylor queried in confusion.

"I tried to fix his brain and get him back in his right state of mind," Shine explained, her eyes returning to normal. "Hopefully it worked in some way and he'll be himself again…"

"Even if he does get better, he still fucked over Vixen and was an asshole," Amethyst replied, her voice a bit calmer in comparison to her aggressive tone earlier. "What if it ends up happening again?"

"I have to agree with Amy, here," Holly replied. "If he's capable of stuff like that, I don't think I'd feel that safe…"

"I think we'll be okay-"

"Of course you think that, he's your family," Connor chimed in.

"Okay, let's just wait until the challenge is over before anything is decided, huh?" Ashton suggested. "No use in rushing ahead unless it's in the challenge."

"Whatever…"

 **-000-**

"Well, no more flying, huh?" Cramad queried. "I guess we don't have to focus on specific people anymore."

"And there are now Eelektross down there, so it's a bit less severe…" Marion explained. "Still pretty annoying, but… yeah."

"I guess I'll go," Klavier replied. "I'm immune, so this should be easy…ish."

The Gliscor began walking to the edge of the cliff before simply jumping down. Due to his large wing, he unwillingly floated down slowly. He sighed to himself. "Victini better not count this as floating; I can even control it…"

The Fang Scorpion Pokemon made it down to the pool. He took a deep breath and dove down, picking up a stone with his pincers. He swiftly climbed out of the pool and started swimming to the beach.

An Eelektross rose up from the water with a roar, startling Klavier, who just chuckled in response. It couldn't affect him, so he just continued swimming, the stone securely in his right claw.

The Eelektross behind him struck him with its arm before another one grabbed him, pulling him down under.

Klavier struggled in its grasp, eventually smacking it with his tail and headbutting it. He quickly swam up to the surface before continuing onwards to the beach.

Once he made it to the sandy shore, he sighed in relief. Walking toward the other rocks, the Gliscor dropped the stone to complete the 'I'.

"THE HO-OHS ARE ON A ROLL! THEY HAVE COMPLETED THEIR 'I'. THE LUGIAS NEED TO CATCH UP! ONLY THEIR 'W' IS FINISHED!" Victini announced through his megaphone once again.

Klavier glowered at him from the corner of his eye due to the close proximity.

 **-000-**

Sola came rushing back up the cliffside, panting heavily. "Alright, we need to pick up the pace, ASAP."

"I'll go next, if you guys don't mind…" Ace stated, walking toward the edge of the cliff.

Once there, he leapt off, letting gravity do its work. He landed in the ocean, missing the pool entirely. Resurfacing, he took a deep breath. "Of fucking course…"

He started swimming around the cliff and to the shore, his mind was riddled with confusion and awe. He thought that what was going on was moronic as a whole and just overall mean-spirited. Hell, his debut season was on a cursed, zombie-infested island full of quirky characters and even _then_ things weren't as bad.

As he swam toward the shore, he heard water splashing. He already knew what it was and immediately started picking up the pace, using his ribbons as extra arms to propel himself forward. The Eelektross used Thunder, electrifying the water and stopping Ace in his tracks.

Electricity surged through him, paralyzing him as he floated on the surface. The Sylveon gurgled as he stared forward in agitation.

 **000**

" **Yep, of course** _ **I'm**_ **one of the ones who gets fucked over by the Pokemon in the challenge," Ace muttered.**

 **000**

Klavier glided back to the top of the cliff, and let out a satisfied breath. "Just one more letter and we're golden!"

"Do you know how many rocks we need?" Marie queried. "That may help things go by quicker…"

"Not if we end up missing the pool a dozen times…" Anthony replied, making Marie elbow him in the chest.

"Don't jinx us…" the Feraligatr stated bluntly.

"Who's going next?" Phill queried. "I mean, I'll go if you guys need me to…"

"Of course we need you to!" Pia exclaimed. "You haven't gone at all, yet!

"Hey, neither have you, or Brian, or Fez, or these two…" Phill responded, gesturing to Anthony and Marie. "But, I'll go anyway, I suppose."

"And while you're down there, give us an approximation of how many more stones will be needed," Marie suggested.

Phill nodded, but Klavier stopped him. "Wait, isn't your ankle still sprained? You'll be in trouble when it comes to the swimming… and getting back up here," the Fang Scorpion Pokemon reminded.

"Sure, but…" Phill started as he limped forward. "I'll be fine. I'm sure of it…"

"Well, if he's sure, he's sure," Annie chimed in, rubbing her hands together. "C'mon, we've got a challenge to win!"

Taking a breath, Phill limped toward the edge of the cliff before looking down and seeing how far he'd have to jump in order to land in the pool.

"Aw jeez…" he commented. Turning back to his teammates sheepishly, he chortled. "Um… anyone wanna swap?"

"Phill, just go!" Anthony urged.

"Alright, alright…" the Raticate replied as he took a deep breath and did as grandest of a leap as he could with his injured leg.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Phill screamed as he plummeted to the water below.

The Raticate smacked into the water of the pool, narrowly avoiding the rim of the pool. He groaned as he rose to the surface to catch his breath. "Arceus that sucked…"

He looked back down into the pool and sighed. He dove underneath in order to retrieve a stone.

 **-000-**

Ace growled as he attempted to move; it was so annoying to be unable to do anything by lie in the water. He regained his composure a bit, slowly moving his arms in order to continue swimming to the shore.

He groaned as his paws touched the sand of the beach. He had to stretch his joints, faint paralysis still agitating him. "Ugh… no stone and now I have to try to get control back in my limbs…"

 **000**

" **I haven't felt this crappy since Chase bought us that dual electric vibrator…" Ace groaned, popping his arms and neck. "My joints kept locking for a week…"**

 **000**

The Sylveon began heading toward the cliff, seeing each team's progress. He growled to himself at seeing how far ahead the Ho-Ohs were.

However, a thought entered his mind.

 **-000-**

 _The Sylveon had been living with Chase, Levi, and Ricky, having nowhere else to go. He shared a room with Chase, obviously. The Intertwining Pokemon was lying in bed, Chase lying on top of him with a smile. "I love you…" Chase admitted with a smile._

" _I love you, too," Ace responded as they initiated a kiss._

 _Just then, the phone rang, interrupting their private time. Ricky and Levi had gone out for the night, so that just left the two of them to hold down the fort. Chase groaned, rolling them over so that Ace was on top. The Sylveon planted light kisses on his cheek and neck as Chase picked up the phone._

" _Hello?" the Flareon answered, picking up the phone. Immediately, he raised a brow._

" _Oh joy, the asshole of the game show world…" he replied._

 _Ace rose a brow at that, ceasing his affection. "Who is it?"_

" _Yeah, he's here. What do you want with him?" Chase queried, feeling a bit heated._

 _Ace grew a bit worried, lying down against him._

" _Uh huh… another stupid season," Chase replied on the phone, making Ace's eyes widen. "Out with it. You need him back so you can cause him pain…"_

 _Ace sighed, knowing how Chase got when it came to him. If anyone hurt him or attempted to hurt him, he'd beat the crap out of them. The Sylveon just knew that he was secure as long as he was there._

" _Oh really? And why am I not in it with him? We both made it to the merge and-"_

" _Why the fuck does that m-"_

" _Ugh…. you are an annoying bastard, you know that?"_

 _After a few seconds, Chase sighed. "Fine. Whatever…"_

 _The Flareon hung up the phone, looking up into the Sylveon's eyes. "Well, you've gotta participate in Dictini's newest season… and unfortunately, I won't be there to help you out or anything…."_

 _Ace groaned. "Why me?!"_

" _Apparently the prick is choosing people who he deems insignificant, boring, or just...plain…" Chase explained. "And apparently I'm not eligible because he actually finds me interesting for some reason…"_

 _Ace giggled. "Well, lucky you…"_

 _Chase sighed as he began to sit up. "Well, let me just give you some advice. Keep your chin up, try to talk and make allies, and when it comes to challenges, remember, if they don't say that it's not, it's allowed. So, use that to your advantage…"_

 **-000-**

Ace walked toward the Ho-Ohs' side, using his ribbons to pick up the rocks that made up the 'I'. He placed them on the Lugias' side with a smirk.

Looking over, Ace saw Victini snicker. He didn't seem to care at all, so it seems like they had the chance.

However, thinking about it, Ace stopped what he was doing. His team currently had two pests that needed to be dealt with. Prolonging their eliminations would only make things worse.

Using his ribbons, he picked up the moved stones and put them back in their original places. He saw the outline of the 'N' on the Ho-Ohs' side and took a breath before eyeing the 'W' on the Lugias' side.

 **-000-**

Phill climbed out of the pool and started swimming to the shore, cringing in pain as he used his bad ankle. Once he made it to shore, he noticed that Ace was still there and he was… moving stones around?

Suspecting foul play, Phill limped over as quickly as he could. "Hey! What are you do-"

"AND THE HORRIBLE HO-OHS WIN!"

Phill's eyes widened as Ace turned around and nodded in his direction.

 **000**

Up top, everyone was confused as to how the Ho-Ohs ended up winning so quickly. They still had an entire letter to do!

"Okay, I call bullshit!" Morgan exclaimed. "How the fuck did they manage to win so quickly?!"

"Ace moved your rocks to help the other team," Mew stated simply, floating over. "You can ask him why when you all get down."

The Lugias exchanged glances.

 **000**

Once everyone was back down, the Lugias immediately glared at Ace.

"What the hell, Ace?!" Sola exclaimed. "Why'd you hand them the win?"

"We have two people on this team that are unbearable at this point," Ace explained simply. "I don't want things getting any worse around here!"

Hearing that, a fair amount of the Lugias actually gained small smiles. Egridos just sighed, knowing that he was one of the two.

"Well, it's a nice sentiment, but you could have at least consulted us, first," Shine explained. "We wouldn't have really cared…"

"Well, I wouldn't have allowed you all to just _not_ do the challenge. If you were gonna sabotage yourselves, you'd still have to participate in the challenge," Victini chuckled. "But, anyways, Lugias, we will see you at elimination…"

The Ho-Ohs smiled to themselves and started heading to the Winner's Cabin, while the Lugias eyed two specific players, one of whom was still unconscious.

 **000**

Sparky groggily awoke, seeing everything as a blur before noticing that he was surrounded. Quickly, his eyes adjusted and he got up, looking around. He saw that he was surrounded by his alliance members, as well as Ace. They were all giving him glares.

"Uh… why are you guys staring at me like that?" he asked before looking behind himself in unsurety.

"You _do_ realize what you did, right?" Sally asked, her arms folded.

"Uh… no?" Sparky replied, confused. He then looked around, his brows furrowed. "And uh… where's Vix?"

"She quit…" Morgan growled. "You fucking sexually assaulted her, and she quit!"

The lion paled, "W-What?"

"Yeah, you raped her, she got called a slut more, attempted _suicide_ , and quit!" Shine snapped.

"No… no there's no way… I-I thought that was just a bad dream…" Sparky stammered, completely shocked as he started getting choked up. "I-I'd never hurt her. I'd never cheat on Luna! I…"

"Wait… do you _seriously_ not remember?" Sola replied, her eyes still glaring at him.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!" Sparky exclaimed. "The last thing I remember was Farra slamming me into a tree a bunch of times!"

Ace shook his head. "No. I don't buy it. Were Shade and his brother still able to remember what they did after they snapped out of it?"

"Yeah…" Sola replied.

"It's hard for him _not_ to…" Shine replied.

Sparky had actual tears in his eyes, shaking his head. "No… no, no, no… please. I swear, I don't remember _anything_ that happened! You guys _have_ to believe me!"

Sighing, Morgan looked at him. "Sparky, we're sorry. But I don't think keeping you here will be the best thing. If you snap again and, according to you, you don't remember anything, that makes things more dangerous for the rest of us. So, sorry…"

"Please," the Luxray pleaded. "Just give me another chance! I swear I-I'll try to get control of myself!"

"You're related to two guys who couldn't control themselves and did some fucked up shit," Sally replied. "Sorry, but I don't buy it…"

"Guys…"

"Sparky, I'm sure that you being out of the game will give you the chance to compose yourself," Shine stated. "It's just a safety concern…"

"Oh yeah, that's fucking fair!" he replied angrily. "Shade and Demenio snapped in and out of their psychosis and they were still seen as reliable and made it to the merge!"

"Don't bring that up…" Sola growled. "We all would have done that to them as well. But, we weren't in that season, now were we?"

"LUGIAS! REPORT TO THE BEACH FOR YOUR ELIMINATION CEREMONY! TIME FOR SOMEONE TO BE VACUUMED AWAY!"

Sparky just shook his head, walking away from the group.

 **000**

 **Sparky sighed. "Well, at least I'll be back home. But, apparently what I did made Vixen try to kill herself, and likely things are going to be worse for her AND me…"**

 **000**

All of the Lugias made it to their elimination ceremony, and all of them had their names called excluding, of course, Egridos and Sparky.

Both males exchanged looks, expecting this already.

"Well, this isn't surprising in the slightest," Victini teased. "Egridos, you've been an insensitive annoyance because of your bitterness toward your imminent divorce…"

Egridos sighed.

"And Sparky, you successfully fooled everyone into thinking that you raped Vixen and drove her to suicide," Victini chuckled. "When things like this occur, I expect the perpetrator to last a bit longer due to other factors, but… I guess not."

Hearing that made everyone immediately freeze.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… what do you mean, 'fooled everyone'?" Morgan queried in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but through thorough observation over the years, it's pretty easy to see that Sparky can't do shit," Victini replied. "Sure, he snapped like his crazy siblings, but, ha! He couldn't do anything. He was _going_ to do it, I think, but then he just bashed her on the head, dragged her, and laid her on top of him."

"So… that _never_ happened?!" Ashton exclaimed.

"Nope," Victini replied. "He just bashed her on the head and caused a chain of assumptions."

Sparky sighed.

"Wait, if he didn't really do it and it was just a plan…"

"It doesn't even matter," Victini interrupted. "He got eight votes to Egridos' seven, so… Sparky, you're goin' home…"

The Luxray stared down at the sand in disappointment. The others exchanged unsure looks.

 **000**

Sparky was walking into the elimination device. He entered the elevator doors and sat down.

"Well, see you later," Victini replied. "Pretty sure things are only going to be horrid for you outside of the game…"

"I already know. Don't start with me!" Sparky snapped.

"Alright then, see you later, failure," Victini said, pressing the button. Sparky dropped, screaming on the way down.

Mew shook his head. "Do you have to treat everything horrid as a joke?"

"Do _you_ have to be a whiny pussy all of the time?"

Mew stared at him before simply floating away, making him chuckle. The Victory Pokemon smiled at the camera. "Who will be the next loser to be sucked down the shaft? Find out next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **Well, lots of things happened in this chap, huh? Insight, development, feelings, yeah… the good stuff. And, in the end, Sparky got eliminated. He was never meant to be an actual antagonist anyway; he was moreso a catalyst to what happened prior. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	14. Trailer Trashed

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon Underdogs, in a throwback to season one, the contestants were required to climb up and jump off of a cliff in order to retrieve stones that will later be used to spell the word 'Win'. Morgan and her alliance planned to get rid of Sparky due to his previous actions, leading said Luxray to try and win the challenges following at any cost. Annie, Cramad, and Titan talked with Clay, with Annie trying to start a take down of the intimidating players on her team. Pia antagonized Aura and Aspen again, trying to make her feel less. And, most shocking of all… Taylor and Connor got together! At the end of this wild day, with help from Ace, the Ho-Ohs won, and due to the possible danger he put others in, Sparky was eliminated.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Frosty was lying on his bed inside of the Loser's Cabin, a wet spot was surrounding his covers, making things very uncomfortable to sleep on. It had rained last night, and due to a small crack in the ceiling, the water dripped right onto his bed in an almost steady stream.

The cabin was empty, as the other guys on his team had decided to leave earlier, leaving him there alone. Even Kojo, who he was supposedly in an alliance with, left him there. And, the more he thought about it, the more upset and worried he got.

He and Kojo being in an alliance would quite literally do nothing but make them _feel_ safe, when in reality, both of them were going to be sitting Ducklett as soon as Egridos got eliminated. He was going to need to establish good connections with others on his team if he was going to make it further. He and Kojo hadn't even talked since they agreed to have the alliance.

"What am I going to do?" he asked himself. "Everyone's dead set on getting rid of Egridos next, so that'll buy me a bit more time. If we actually win more challenges, maybe even more…"

He floated out of his bunk and sighed, looking around at the old, musty decrepit scene. "Arceus, this is fucking awful…"

He floated out of the door of his gender's side of the cabin, looking around at what all was happening. He saw Morgan, Shine, and Sola walk by, heading toward the gazebo. A thought entered his head. They were practically the "bosses" of the team, so maybe he should try and get on their good side. They wouldn't have a reason to eliminate him then.

And, if he screwed, he could just find Carson and the others.

 **000**

Ace and Sally were sitting at the gazebo, waiting for the three other girls to arrive. Soon enough, the Persian, Espeon, and Absol approached, stepping onto the concrete floor of the gazebo with water dripping down their sides from the roofs.

"Hey guys," Ace greeted as Sally just sat in wait, her arms folded.

Sola let out a breath. "Hey," she responded as she, Shine, and Morgan sat down across from them.

After Victini explained what had _really_ occurred in relation to Sparky and Vixen, they were a bit perplexed. Morgan's bemused expression gave away that something was wrong, leading Sally to raise a brow. "Something on you guys' mind?"

"Of course," Morgan replied, looking at her in exasperation. "All this time we thought that Sparky raped Vixen, when in actuality, he just bashed Vixen's head and made her think that it happened. I just… I feel stupid now."

"You know, none of us really even tried to see if the story checked out," Shine chimed in. "We just automatically assumed that she was right because, well… we know how the guys are…"

"Well, guys, he still _attempted_ to rape her, _and_ he still caused her harm by hitting her," Ace brought up. "He was still guilty of something horrible. So, if you guys are like… feeling bad about eliminating him… I don't know what to say."

"Yeah, family or not. Right is right and wrong is wrong," Sally added. "So, buck up, girls. He's back in the paws of Luna, and hopefully nothing awful happens to them like what happened with Cano and Vixen. We still need to deal with Egridos. After he's gone, we can focus on-"

"Uh… hi!" they all heard, interrupting Sally's thought.

Turning toward the owner of the voice, they were all relatively unfazed by Frosty's appearance. Though, they did wonder why he was there.

"Um…. hi, Frosty…" Shine greeted, her tone indicating confusion. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Just… popping in and saying 'hi'," he explained. "I don't have anything better to do, so… here I am."

"Well, no offense, but could you leave?" Sally queried in the kindest voice possible. "We're kinda having a private conversation…."

"Oh, I know that this is like you guys' alliance thingy," Frosty replied. "Everyone on the team has their own little group they're always around, so it's pretty obvious."

"Frosty… leave," Morgan stated bluntly. "We're trying to deal with something right now and we'd rather not talk to you right now…"

Frosty sighed to himself, expecting this kind of negative response. "Oh, well… alright then. I'll just… talk to you all in the challenge."

"Yeah… okay, sure," Ace replied.

Nodding, Frosty floated away from the gazebo, leaving them alone. Once he was out of the vicinity, Sola took a breath. "You were saying, Sally?"

"I was just gonna say that the faster we get rid of Egridos, the faster we're able to actually try and get some sort of enjoyment out of this shitty game…" she explained. "It may not be possible, knowing how this game gets, but… we can at least put on straight faces, right?"

The others exchanged looks, with Ace shrugging.

"I suppose," the Sylveon replied with a shrug. Suddenly what had gone through his mind yesterday resurfaced. "And uh… I remembered something that Chase told me before I came to compete here."

"Hmm?" Sola hummed in curiosity.

"He told me that if they don't say something isn't allowed, be sure to use any means necessary in order to win and use it to our advantage…" Ace explained.

"Wow," Morgan giggled. "Only one season and your man is already smarter than most of us here…"

"Well, he's passing along the information, so we're all pretty smart now," Sally said with a giggle.

They all laughed to themselves, with Frosty, who was still floating nearby in a few bushes, to sigh and move away.

 **000**

" **Probably a bad idea to try and talk to the people one of your only friends despises…" Frosty sighed. "They probably don't like me anyway…"**

 **000**

On the beach, Phill, Klavier, and Kojo were each making their own sandcastles. So far, Phill was doing pretty well, his castle starting off pretty small. Kojo was also doing well with his sandcastle, having it be medium sized. He hardly ever built sandcastles anyway, but it was still pretty decent.

Klavier, on the other hand, was sitting in front of a small, wet sand heap. His pincers were a bit of a hindrance on what he was doing with the sand. Basically, he kept messing up.

He sighed in defeat. "Well, this sandcastle isn't going anywhere…" he commented, knocking the heap to the side.

The Raticate and Mienshao chuckled at his reaction.

"So, how are things with you and Holly, bro?" Phill queried as he continued messing with his castle. "You two haven't already 'done the deed' have you?"

A blush spread across the Gliscor's face. "Of course not! We just _started_ dating! We're not trying to rush into anything!"

Phill chuckled, as Kojo smirked at him. "Well good. Slow and steady wins the race. Though, I wish I could say the same for this horndog…" the Raticate replied, gesturing to Kojo, who blushed.

"Hey!" the Martial Arts Pokemon exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Hey, you know it's true, Kojo," Phill laughed. "When you and Summer are alone, you can't keep your paws off of each other."

"Sh-Yeah, so what?" Kojo replied. "She's the best girl that I've ever been with. I-I love her…"

"And I'm sure that both of you would love doing each other," Phill teased. "You guys were pretty close a couple of days ago…"

"Well, sorry that we're not interesting in giving Victini a free porno," Kojo replied, patting a ridge on his sandcastle. "Plus, it's just been two weeks. We haven't even had any real dates yet, just… island privacy. It's a bit weird."

"Well, think about it this way…" Klavier chimed in. "If they're gonna do challenges every day, we'll be out in like… a month and a half. Then, you'll be able to do whatever you want with her."

"Same with you," Kojo replied playfully.

Looking back and forth at the two, Phill gained an idea. "Hey, have you guys ever thought about doing a double date?"

Hearing that, Klavier and Kojo turned to him with bemused expressions. They exchanged looks with each other before glancing back at their friend.

"What do you mean?" asked Klavier.

"I mean, you both have girlfriends now, and you guys are friends, so… It makes sense," Phill explained. "Plus, outside of the game, we're still gonna be hanging around… right?"

"Of course!" Kojo chuckled. "I mean, my schedules may be fucked, but I'll surely make time for you guys."

"I don't really have much going on, so, yeah," Klavier agreed.

"And Summer and Holly are gonna need to be able to get along anyway, so this'll be good for you _and_ them," Phill continued. "That way, it can be a 'boys' night'-'girls' night' scenario like on television…"

Kojo blanched. "Uh, Phill, those types of scenarios usually end up going wrong. Someone either gets too drunk or kisses someone else…"

"Oh… right…" Phill replied. "Well, we could always just do other things that aren't too public."

"Including finding a girl for _you_?" Klavier chimed in with a smirk.

Kojo smiled. "Yeah… You need to find yourself a gal of your own…" he said, getting to his feet and rubbing sand off of his butt.

Phill stifled a laugh. "Oh please. I'm a lazy rat with rough fur. I doubt any girls would be interested in me…"

"You never know," Kojo replied. "I mean, no offense to him, but Egridos is ugly as heck and he ended up getting married. _And_ he's pretty annoying. If he was able to take a wife, you should be able to find a girl that likes you."

"You know, I'm inclined to believe you, but it's actually hard to…" Phill replied. "But, anyways, double date. You guys gotta try it out."

Kojo and Klavier exchanged looks. The Mienshao was the first to speak. "I mean… I wouldn't be against it," he shrugged.

"Me neither," Klavier responded, though he was a bit hesitant.

Hearing the anxiousness in his voice, Kojo sighed. "Klavier, I can tell that you're nervous. I can hear it in your voice."

Klavier sheepishly looked away. "It's that obvious?"

"Why're you so nervous?" Phill queried.

Klavier sighed as he remained sitting in the sand. "I just… I'm still getting use to all of this…" he explained. "Being with Holly feels great, but we don't really get to have much freedom until we're eliminated. It sucks…"

"Well, we can still just hang out and talk," Kojo explained. "It doesn't have to be a _date_ date. Just… a friend date. Maybe it'll ease your tension a bit…"

Klavier shrugged. "Maybe."

"Come on Klavier, it'll be fine," Phill expressed, walked over to pat his friend's back. He put on a thinking face for a few seconds before smiling to himself. "Tell ya what, I'll go along with you guys whenever you decide to do it. That way you'll feel like you're just with us, as well as two more chicks."

Klavier sighed, a blush spreading across his face. "Fine."

"Yeah, everything will be fine, dude," Kojo said with a smile.

"Group hug!" Phill exclaimed as he hugged his two friends, who only chortled or smirked in response.

 **000**

Marie lied on Anthony's chest in their bed, their blanket draped over them. The Feraligatr groggily opened her eyes, eventually focusing on the Blastoise underneath her. She smiled to herself before lifting herself up and climbing off of the side of the Shellfish Pokemon.

The creaking from the mattress caused the Blastoise to groan to himself. Hearing that, Marie turned back and smirked. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips. "Morning…"

"Morning," he replied as he rolled over onto his stomach, still facing her. He yawned. "How are you always awake before me?"

Marie shrugged. "I don't know… it's weird, though isn't it? I'd think my shuffling would wake you up earlier. Guess you're a very heavy sleeper…"

Anthony groaned.

"Well, I'm gonna go make breakfast," Marie said, patting his paw. "You can keep lying there. But, if you want some, you may want to get up…"

She got back up and started walking to the door. Anthony's eyes widened and he immediately sat up. "Uh… what are you cooking, by chance?"

"You'll have to get out of bed to find out," Marie teased from the kitchen.

Anthony sighed to himself. She had given him a bite of the omelette she had made for herself a couple of days ago. It was _spectacular_ and it made him regret choosing to just eat cereal. He groaned as he decided to get up and see what she was going to cook.

Scratching at his side, he walked through the door and to the front. He stretched his arms as he made it to the kitchen. He saw Marie cracking eggs and put them into a plastic bowl. He smiled as he walked toward her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

The Big Jaw Pokemon giggled. "I see you decided to get up…"

"And I see you're making the omelettes again…" he replied, kissing her cheek.

"Of course," she said, looking back at him and locking lips with him.

The door of the cabin creaked open, which the couple noticed. Summer entered, popping her back. Seeing the two, she gained a smirk. "Aww… how precious…" she giggled, closing the door behind her.

"Hey Sum," Marie greeted as Anthony let her go. "Shouldn't you be draped over Kojo's shoulders or vice versa?"

"Oh ha ha," Summer replied, rolling her eyes. "It's not like we can't function without each other."

She sauntered over and took a seat on the couch. Turning on the television, Summer began flipping through the channels, while the couple continued with breakfast.

"Well, now that we're all here," Marie started. "I think it's time for us to have a meeting. We haven't had one in a while."

"What is there to say?" Anthony queried. "Our team eliminated Sabrina because she was being annoying. And we make vote decisions based on challenge performance, if not annoyance factors, for the most part."

"I'm actually a bit hesitant," Summer explained, folding her arms. "Annoyance played a major factor in her elimination, sure, but I think that something else played a part as well."

Marie understood what she was getting at. "What? You think the others know and are targeting us?"

"I mean, I wouldn't put it behind them," Summer replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm just saying that Sabrina's elimination threw me for a loop. She was still a strong player and they still eliminated _her_ over Aura."

"Granted, Aura _has_ been making herself a bit more useful and hasn't been as annoying as she used to be," Anthony chimed in. "Compared to Sabrina's constant barrage of insults toward Fez and a few others, anyway."

Marie sighed. "Well, I think we need to get rid of Cramad and Marion as soon as possible. They're pretty useless and I doubt that they're strong."

Anthony had grabbed a chair and brought it into the kitchen. He sat down before picking up the Feraligatr and placing her in his lap. He scooted the chair toward the counter so she could continue her cooking.

Summer stifled a laugh. "Uh, yeah… I can agree with that. And uh… Anthony, was that really necessary?"

"Hey, if you and Kojo can go off and do whatever before challenges, so can we," Anthony replied before leaning up and kissing Marie's cheek."

"Oh?" Marie queried, looking back at him. "I thought that you didn't want to be like them? That this was going to just be an average relationship?"

"It _is_ ," Anthony replied. "We're not fucking or making out are we?"

"Oh, and what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Summer queried, putting on a faux agitated face. "You think Kojo and I just fuck and make out when we're alone together?"

"Well, you guys _are_ extremely kissy even though it's just been two weeks…" Anthony explained.

"I'll have you know that we're waiting to have sex until we're out of the game," Summer relied. "All of these cameras make things difficult. So, the least we do is make out."

"Huh… understandable," Marie nodded before focusing back on making the omelettes. "Hey, you want an omelette or something?"

"Hmm?" Summer hummed. "Oh, no thanks. Thanks for the offer, though."

Marie nodded. "So, Cramad or Marion are on our list the next time we lose. We'll just have to convince the others when the time comes…"

"... and just hope that they don't backstab us," Anthony added.

"Right…" Marie responded with a sigh.

 **000**

" **I actually don't know what to expect now. I don't know if I'm overreacting or what, but I just don't trust the others on the team as much. We're gonna have to watch our backs…" Marie said.**

 **000**

Pia stretched as she walked toward Brian's lair. She hadn't really spoken to him or Freezeo in a while, outside of challenges anyway. She was too busy trying to throw Aura off of her game. Now she had a feeling that Aspen was going to be a hindrance, so they were going to need to get rid of her as well.

Entering the cave, Pia immediately ducked as a stray ball of electricity strayed in her direction. The ball went on to hit a tree, which toppled over after a few seconds. She looked back into the cave and saw both Freezeo and Brian staring at her in surprise.

Brian was holding a maroon gun with a magnet at the end of it. There were two yellow rims around it. He placed the weapon down, while Freezeo laughed sheepishly. "Sorry."

"What the hell are you two doing in here?" the Hypno queried as she entered.

"Brian's just making stuff and testing," Freezeo explained. "It's pretty cool…"

"Weren't you unsure about him not so long ago?" Pia queried. "Now you're fine with him?"

"Eh, turns out he's actually smarter than I gave him credit for," Freezeo replied. "So, what have you been up to?"

Pia let out a sigh. "Oh I've just been working on lowering Aura's self-confidence. If I keep it up, she'll eventually get upset or screw up a challenge by trying too hard and then we can easily eliminate her. But, Aspen keeps butting in and trying to raise her spirits. I think we need to get rid of her first."

"Well, she hasn't really been doing much for the team, so there's a good possibility that she can be an easy out," Freezeo stated.

"Exactly," Pia responded. "The faster we get rid of Aspen, the faster we get rid of Aura."

The two of them nodded. A few minutes later, Pia started walking toward them. "So, what have you guys been testing?"

Brian smirked. "I have decided to create individual weapons that represent each type. That way, we will never be without aid in challenges."

"Nice!" Pia cheered, coming over at a quicker pace. Looking over a table of weapons, she grew interested at the different shapes of the weapons. However, despite them looking different, their specific elements were still indecipherable. "What types are done already?"

"Well, as I've just demonstrated, the Electro-Ray is finished," he said, picking up the ray gun he had in his hands previously. "There's also the Moist Militia, the Gravattack, the Delta Draco, the Dust Buster, and… the Slimer…"

"Uh… those are… pretty interesting names," Pia said. "But you didn't answer my question. What types are already finished?"

Thinking that the names would give her hints, Brian sighed. "Electric, water, psychic, dragon, fairy, and poison…"

"Hmm… some of them may be of use depending on what the challenge is…" Pia stated. "Keep working on them… they'll be great for the challenges…"

Brian nodded as Pia started leaving his cave. "Good job…" she commented before exiting.

"That went well…" Freezeo stated, turning to Brian, who simply nodded.

 **000**

On a separate section of the beach Ashton, Amethyst, Carson, and Holly met up to just talk and discuss their moves in the game, as well as how Amethyst was feeling.

At the moment, Carson was making a sand pile, while Holly and Ashton handled Amethyst, who was lying in the sand with an indifferent expression. This was unlike her, raising concern.

"Are you okay, Amy?" Holly queried, draping her wing around her.

The Amaura sighed. "I don't know. I am, but I'm not. I'm glad that Sparky is gone, but Egridos is still here. Sure, he'll likely leave next, but it's still annoying."

"Amy… he hasn't said anything to anyone since what happened yesterday," Ashton explained. "I don't think he's really going to be an annoyance anymore…"

"Yeah, Lassie really hurt him, so I don't think he's going to be bothering anyone," Holly added. "On a separate note… I'm proud of you!"

Amethyst was confused at her saying that. She hadn't done anything to warrant that. At least she thought. "Proud of me for what? I haven't done anything good."

"You're being more outspoken," Holly explained. "That's progress. You may actually be able to break out of your shell..."

Amethyst blushed, having not thought about it. "I don't think being upset counts…"

"You're actually letting your voice be heard," Ashton stated. "That means something Amy. You used to be so quiet and reserved. Now you're actually starting to converse a bit more. Or at least begin to…"

"I still don't have anything in common with anyone, so I don't really believe so…"

"Amy… don't put yourself down. You are a wonderful girl with a caring boyfriend and friends who only want the best for you…" Holly explained. "You just need to talk more and throw your feelings out there. You've been doing well, throwing in good tips and advice in challenges, but you should do it more often."

Amethyst sighed. "Maybe… I don't know."

"Amethyst, come on," Carson stated. "We're all doing well, we give our thoughts and participate a… decent amount. If you can be open with us as often as you are, you can be open with everyone else as well."

Amethyst was unsure, but after thinking a bit, she took a breath. "Okay. I'll try."

"Great!" Holly cheered. "I'm sure you'll do great…"

"There you guys are!" the four of them heard unexpectedly. Who would be looking for _them_? That question was answered merely seconds later as Frosty emerged from the bushes, spitting out leaves that wound up in his mouth.

"Oh, hey Frosty," Carson greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Just… curious I suppose," the ice-type replied sheepishly. "I'm looking for actual friends… or rather allies on the team. I already know that everyone has their own alliance and I just feel alone..."

"Aw…" Holly replied, hearing his plight. She couldn't help but feel a bit sad for him. "Well, you can consider us friends if you'd like."

Frosty smiled. He knew he should have just come to them first; they were all nice. "Thank you. If you guys need any help in eliminations, let me know and I'll help you out."

"Well, thanks Frosty," Carson replied. "It'll be a good help."

Frosty nodded as he started floating away. Seeing him begin to leave, Ashton called out to him. "Wait, Frosty!"

The Snowstorm Pokemon paused and turned to her in wonder. "Yes?"

"Do you want to just… hang out? You agreed to help us out and we're gonna try to be friends now, so it would make sense…"

Frosty thought about it before smiling to himself. "You know what… you're right," the Vanilluxe replied, floating back over to them. "So… what're we doing here?"

"Just… talking for right now," Ashton replied. "Carson's doing something with the sand, though…"

"Oh, okay," the Vanilluxe replied. " _So_ what are we talking about?"

"We're just trying to help Amy get her confidence up right now," Holly explained.

"Oh… uh, okay?" he replied in a questioning manner, a bit unsure about how he would be able to fit in the conversation.

 **000**

Dhaunt sat next to Egridos on the outside of LeGrae High School. After the scene that took place in the previous challenge, the ghost- and poison-type noticed that his friend grew much more distant and wasn't acting as 'eccentric' as he usually did.

He hadn't known about what was going on between him and Lassie. He just knew that they were having some issues here and Lassie was a bit vague on his 'mistreatment'. They two were being as silent as they've ever been; usually they were able to easily talk to each other about… whatever. Now it was just… awkward.

Dhaunt kicked his legs against the old, concrete steps, twiddling his fingers. He was unsure about what to say, not knowing if he'd help in the situation or not. Soon enough, he spoke up.

"Um… you okay, dude?" he asked.

In response, Egridos gazed at him from the corner of his eye. "We've been sitting here for twenty minutes and _that's_ what you finally ask?"

"Sorry," he replied. "You know that I'm not that good at tense situations…"

Egridos sighed. "It's okay. It's my fault, anyway…"

"How do you figure?" Dhaunt asked rhetorically, not wanting to say it himself.

"I was the one acting like more of a dick," Egridos admitted. "The fact that Lassie wants to divorce me despite everything I've tried to do for her… it just… it fucking sucks…"

"Sure, but… what about when the season started?" Dhaunt queried. "You've been a bit of an asshole since this season started, no offense."

Egridos blinked. "None taken," he replied before taking a breath. "I don't know what was wrong with me. I mean, I already knew everyone in this game found me annoying, aside from you sometimes. I guess I just went into dickhead mode early..."

"Well, I'm not entirely sure if that's a really good reason-" Dhaunt explained.

"I don't fucking know! Ask the shitty author! FOURTH WALL! Fuck me!" Egridos exclaimed before falling back against the concrete.

"Well, now that you're single and no longer care to be a dick, maybe you should start making it up to your team…" Dhaunt explained. "I'm pretty sure you have a target on your back right now…"

"I'm actually considering just allowing it to happen," Egridos explained, staring up at the sky. "I don't have anything to play for anymore. If she's leaving me, that means that I keep all of my own money, meaning that this game is worthless to me…"

"Well, unless she tries suing you…" Dhaunt spoke up, making Egridos' eyes widen.

"Wh-Why. Why, why, why would even think like that?" he queried in a panic.

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you scared or nervous. It's just that in these cases, at least what I see on television, usually the girl tries to get half of everything the guy owns. I mean, Lassie's probably _not_ that type of girl, but there's always a possibility."

Egridos scoffed. "Great. I lose my wife, and now she may sue me just to get half of everything I got even though I gave her a sufficient amount…"

"Hey, I said there's a _possibility_. It's not guaranteed. Calm down," Dhaunt replied, trying to ease his nerves.

"How can I calm down when you've put the idea in my head, dude?!" Egridos bellowed before retracting into his coffin.

Dhaunt sighed, facepalming himself.

 **000**

On the cliff, Marion sat Lassie with Lassie to discuss what had happened. Lassie was very adamant about not talking about it; she felt that what was going on in her personal life was insignificant to her survivability in the game. She was done with Egridos and she just wanted to move on.

"Can we please not talk about this?" Lassie requested tonelessly. "I just want to focus on the game right now…"

"Lassie, I don't think ignoring the issues in your life is going to solve anything…" Marion replied.

"And neither is talking about it," Lassie countered, folding her arms. "Seriously, what is there to even talk about? He has been a dickhead since this season started, turned into a bigger one when I told him about the divorce, and then blamed me."

"And all of that anger and aggression erupted yesterday when you yelled at him and threw your wedding ring over the edge of the cliff…" Marion replied, giving her a knowing look. "It's obvious that this is eating at you…"

"Well, look. I'm sorry, but I refuse to talk about this any further. We may be friends, but that doesn't mean I have to tell you everything. Do you tell me everything about you and Dhaunt? No, you don't, so let's just _drop it_ …"

Marion let out a soft sigh. This wasn't going to go so well for the Froslass, she could just tell. "Okay, fine…"

"And I don't want the bastard around for meetings anymore," Lassie replied.

"Lassie…"

"I don't want him around with his shitty attitude! If you guys don't tell him that he's out of the alliance, I will, and I _really_ don't want to talk to him…" the ice- and ghost-type stated before floating away, leaving the Banette alone on the rock.

 **000**

" **Her and Egridos really need to consider counseling. Going straight into divorce isn't going to do anything but hurt them both…" Marion stated.**

 **000**

Annie, Cramad, and Titan were ducking behind a few bushes, spying on what was going on between Taylor and Connor, who were lying down by the lake. Titan and Cramad were unsure why they were there; Annie was the one who orchestrated this stakeout.

"Annie, why are we here?" Cramad asked in an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, why are we just watchin' them?" Titan queried.

"Because I don't trust this," Annie commented. "Taylor could just be using him as a pawn. I don't buy his 'sudden love' bullshit. You don't just get infatuated with the person you were treating like shit just because he stood up for himself. "

"Annie, not everyone experiences love the same way," Cramad explained. "It may be a kink. Plus, Taylor's _just_ discovering himself, which is kinda weird, but not impossible."

"Well I'm sorry, but I just can't trust it," Annie replied. "Connor's a sweetheart who doesn't deserve to be used and abused. And whether this relationship is real or not, Connor can do _so much better_ than someone like Taylor."

"Well, Annie, it's his decision," Titan replied. "You can't dictate who he can and can't date."

"I understand that, but it doesn't mean that I can't worry of scope out for him in case that bastard tries anything funny," Annie stated seriously. "I was a fool in my relationships; I let the bastard take advantage of me. I don't want to see a nice guy like Connor suffer the same thing."

"Annie, just because it happened to you doesn't mean it'll happen with Connor. I'm sure he'll come to us if he's feeling uncomfortable. So, come on… let's leave the lads alone…" Titan said as he and Cramad started walking away.

Annie was still skeptical about the 'couple', but she decided to leave them alone anyway, following the insect couple.

 **000**

Connor was snoozing silently next to the lake, with Taylor eyeing him dreamily. The Milotic still couldn't believe that the Bouffalant was willing to be with him. Their relationship, despite only commencing yesterday, caused him to actually think over everything awful that he'd done to him.

It made him feel… unworthy in a way. Like he didn't deserve the Bash Buffalo Pokemon. Sure, he was a bit of a spineless wimp, but… he could tell that he was pure of heart.

Smiling, he leaned down, planting a kiss on the sleeping bovine's cheek. The Bouffalant shuffled a bit, slowly opening his eyes. Seeing the Milotic in front of him, Connor faintly blushed.

"Hey…" he greeted sheepishly.

"Hey," Taylor replied with a small smile, nuzzling him. "Glad you're up. We need to talk."

Connor got to his feet and stretched his legs. He looked back up at the Tender Pokemon, raising a brow. They hadn't really talked about the game as much as they used to in the past few days, so the Bouffalant expected it to be game related.

"Yeah? About what?" he queried.

"Our strategy of course," Taylor replied, slithering out of the lake and gently coiling around him. "Now, at the moment we're both in the clear with the team. And we already have a scapegoat in Egridos, so we have nothing to worry about if our team loses again…"

"Yeah, I know that part," Connor replied, understanding their team's situation already. He didn't need to be reminded.

"Okay, so we need to worry about looking good to these others," Taylor replied. "They were skeptical about us being together… which is stupid. But we need to make sure that we each show our usefulness. Especially to those three main bitches. They're the ones that call the shots..."

Connor thought to himself, as that _was_ indeed the case. Morgan, Shine, and Sola seemed to be the main ones taking control and giving instructions and plans for the team's possible success. He didn't really care that much, but it was a newer revelation to him that he hadn't payed attention to.

"Uh… okay?" he responded questioningly.

"I'm already useful because I'm the only water-type on the team," Taylor explained. "It's just that my behavior and previous actions have pretty much tarnished my reputation of being trustworthy. Hopefully, with me being a bit more preoccupied with you and open with them, things will get better. And, for you… well… I think you just need to work on your strength."

Connor sighed. "Wonderful…" he drawled.

Giggling, Taylor planted a kiss on the Bouffalant's lips before nuzzling him closer. "I'm sure you'll be fine, honey. Plus, training should be easy with the gym on this island. And we have _this_ space, too."

Connor sighed. "I guess," he said, rolling his eyes.

Taylor shook his head ludically. "You're so cute…" he giggled.

Connor smiled up at him. This was the most open and casual he's ever been in _any_ situation. He never thought in a million years that he'd have a _boyfriend_. And not only that, one that actually got him speaking more. Sure, he said that it was just a front for more protection and less abuse, but… it was turning into something much more to him.

"CONTESTANTS! REPORT TO THE BEACH IMMEDIATELY FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

Taylor sighed. "Well, time for another shitty challenge," he expressed dismally, slowly uncoiling himself from around Connor, who smirked.

"Hey, let's just hope that there's no actual shit involved…" Connor joked as the two headed to the beach.

 **000**

" **Mother of Arceus… this is such an amazing feeling!" Taylor chirped. "I… I actually feel something here and he's much more expressive and open when around me. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something right…"**

 **He giggled. "If I knew this feeling came with it, I would have come out two years ago…"**

 **000**

 **Connor sighed. "I'm actually starting to like Taylor more and more as days go by. I still can't believe that he's my boyfriend… and I'm actually liking this!"**

" **He was so mean and belligerent that I thought that he may accidentally kill me for doing something wrong, even though we** _ **can't**_ **die!" he exclaimed.**

" **Now… it just feels nice, you know?"**

 **000**

All of the contestants made their way to the beach. Victini and Mew were already there, with the latter holding his usual annoyed expression and the former holding a jovial sneer. However, they were not alone. There were five Pokemon standing next to them, each of them looking rather… rugged and filthy.

The first one was an Electivire. It was chewing on a toothpick with a straw hat on its head. Strangely, it wore tattered blue overalls, one side which wasn't even completely fastened.

The second one was a Furret. It wore a striped green and purple sock on its lower half and was flipping a penny in its paw.

The third one was a Cacturne. It wore baggy sack-like pants that were held up like suspenders, as well as an eyepatch over its right eye.

The fourth one was a very burly Ursaring. It wore an unbuttoned red and white plaid shirt with tattered, faded blue jeans, and an old ten gallon hat.

The fifth and final one was a Whimsicott wearing tattered purple rags as pants and a shirt.

Seeing all of these decrepit garb-wearing Pokemon, the others were completely perplexed as to what they were doing here and what their challenge was.

"Uh…" Phill started, raising his hand.

"Hands down. We haven't even introduced you all yet or even greeted you," Victini responded before clearing his throat. "Hello! And welcome to today's challenge…"

The contestants rolled their eyes and exchanged unamused glances as Victini continued.

"As you can see, we have some guests on our island with us, today," Victini explained.

"Can you _not_ treat us like we're five and just get on with it?" Summer queried, folding her arms.

"Fine," Victini replied, rolling his eyes. "Our guest stars today are a bunch of rednecks that are here for a good ole time. Ain't that right fellas?"

"Yer darn tootin' pixie man!" the Whimsicott, identified as a female, replied happily in a thick country accent.

The five of them started whooping and hollering, making the contestants groan and plug their ears. Kojo seemed to be the most annoyed, holding his head.

"Eyy…" the Furret started, looking at the disgruntled Mienshao with an excited expression. "Lookie there fellas. That there's mah nephew who we see on them fancy picture boxes!"

The five of them looked at Kojo, who paled. His fellow competitors eyed him curiously as well, especially Summer.

"That sure is him!" the Electivire expressed. "Oo-wee boy, you sure gave that gal a good dickin' in that fancy moving picture machine…"

"Can we move on, please?" Kojo pleaded, not wanting this conversation to continue.

"Maybe…"

"Victini!"

Victini rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm going to let these guys introduce themselves and then I'll explain the challenge…"

"You could have just done that in the first place instead of trying to stretch this out with juvenile jokes…" Shine drawled.

"And that was a word from Lucifer's wife…" Victini mocked, making Shine narrow her eyes at him.

The Victory Pokemon turned to the rednecks beside him. "Alright fellas and lass, introduce yourselves to these wretched players…"

"I'll handle this," the Furret said, deciding to step up first, clearing his throat. "Mah name is Lester Bennington."

He gestured to the Electivire. "This big lug right here is Buck McNeil… but we call him Bucky."

The Electivire yanked on his suspenders.

"He's Jackie Boi," he continued, gesturing to the Cacturne. The Cacturne tipped his hat in greeting.

"That's Big Daddy Bubba right dere," he pointed to the Ursaring, smiling. The Ursaring only winked suggestively.

"And finally, we have Becky…" he said, gesturing to the Whimsicott. She waved in greeting well. "Hey y'all~."

"Alright, good," Victini started. "Now, this challenge will be rather simple. The five of these guys will be hunting you all down while you look for a relic that looks like _this_."

Mew held up a small, trailer-shaped golden statue.

"...A trailer?" Klavier queried, seeing the object.

"Precisely," Victini answered. "Each team will search for their specific relic, which is located somewhere around the island. The five of them will hunt you down with…"

Suddenly, a gun appeared in each redneck's hands. They weren't traditional guns, however, as they had thinner barrels, resembling sniper weapons.

"...rubber bullets!"

"Oh come on! Those hurt like hell!" Fez exclaimed.

"Exactly," Victini replied with a sinister smirk. "While they're looking for you, if you get hit, you're out. The first team to find their statue and bring it back here, or, the team that has the last player or players standing, wins the challenge."

"What's the point of bringing _these_ guys in when you could have just had Zahku, Colton, and Tyson do it?" Carson queried.

"Wow, you actually remember those nobodies' names?" Victini replied. "And plus, it follows the theme of today's challenges. I'm not gonna say what it is, though. You should be able to figure it out later..."

"Can we just get challenge started already?" Sally queried exasperatedly.

"I'm getting to it!" Victini exclaimed. "Jeez, you guys are so bitchy today…"

"Maybe mah nephew can give 'em a good dickin' or smack 'em a bit, that worked on the movin' picture boxes. Set their attitudes straight as an arrow."

Kojo groaned in embarrassment. "Damn it, Lester…" he muttered, holding his head.

"Alright, you guys will get a five minute head start and these guys will turn around so that they don't know exactly where to go," Victini explained, dropping the two statues he had on the ground, as the five hicks turned their backs to their prey. "In three… two… one… GO!"

Immediately, all of the contestants rushed away with their teams. The Ho-Ohs headed into the forest, while the Lugias rushed back to the campgrounds.

 **000**

The remaining fourteen Lugias met up behind the Loser Cabins. Kojo sat against the back wall, rubbing his temples. "Mother of Arceus, I hate my life…"

"Uh… Kojo, are you _really_ related to them?" Frosty asked.

Kojo huffed. "No, Lester is just my uncle. I hardly ever hear from him because he's broke and he seems to love the life of a fucking hillbilly."

"I feel so sorry for you…" Holly commented. "No offense to _him_."

"Hey, can we focus on the challenge, please?" Taylor spoke up. "We have less than five minutes to hide right now and do _not_ want to know what those rubber bullets feel like."

"Taylor's right," Sola agreed. "We need to get a move on. Any ideas of where we should check first?"

"Why don't we just split up like we usually do?" Carson queried. "Staying together will only heighten our chances of being taken out quickly.

"That is true…" Morgan replied. "And there are fourteen of us… so how many groups should be have?"

"Three," Sally opined. "That way there's a good spread of control and leadership."

Shine nodded. "Okay, so who goes with who? We need to hurry and get this settled."

"Okay," Amethyst began, albeit a bit shakily. "Maybe… Morgan can go with Holly, Sally, and Connor. Shine can go with Ace, Ashton, Carson, and Frosty. Then, Sola, Kojo, Egridos, Taylor, and I can be together for the last group…"

"Uh… why split our usual groups up when we function fine with them?" Connor queried in confusion.

"Maybe we'll work even better with other people," Amethyst stated thoughtfully. "It can't hurt…"

"Well, as long as we win and work together properly, it should be fine," Shine replied.

"Right, now let's go," Sola replied as each group rushed in separate directions.

 **000**

" **Everyone is always in certain groups. Maybe we'll see some different strengths and personalities with different people…" Amethyst replied. "Then we'll really know who's strong…"**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs all rushed to the base of the cliff, meeting behind a bunch of rocks near the shore on the opposite side of the cliff.

"Alright, what do we do now?" Dhaunt asked. "Why'd we decide to come here?"

"We need to plan out our strategy, duh…" Anthony replied, folding his arms before looking around and noticing that Brian was holding a black trash bag. He groaned, seeing the bag as a possible hindrance. "Brian, why the hell do you have that bag?"

"It is my bag of _evil_ ," he replied. "It holds advanced technology that may very well aid in our quest for today."

"Brian…" Marie started, a warning tone in her voice.

"Just give him a chance…" Pia defended in an understanding tone.

"We don't have time for chances," Lassie commented. "We need to try to find the stupid trailer statue and win this thing, not worry about a wannabe evil guy's stupid inventions that probably aren't even going to function correctly!"

"You dare doubt the word of evil incarnate?!" Brian exclaimed. "I will show you, money-hating wench!"

"What'd you call me?!"

Brian dropped his bag and started rummaging through it. Seeing this, Summer groaned, while others rolled their eyes in annoyance.

"We don't have time for this!" Summer bellowed. "Let's just split up, already!"

"My Spectral Shooter!" Brian announced as he pulled out a transparent grey and black remote with a pointer at the end of it. "Now… watch and prepare to bow before me!"

Brian pointed it toward one of the many stones they were near and pressed the red button. Nothing happened. Raising a brow, Brian continued pressing the button, but with no success.

"What in the Distortion World-?" he said, shaking the device.

"Whaddya know? I was right," Lassie mocked. "Dumbass…"

"Can we go look now?" Klavier asked tonelessly.

"Let's just go already," Annie said as they started walking away. She didn't really care that much about the Reuniclus' inventions and was just ready to move forward.

Everyone split off into their usual groups, with Pia and Freezeo being left behind. Pia gave him an annoyed expression, while Freezeo, despite his frozen face, held a look of confusion.

"What happened?" the Cryogonal asked. "It worked earlier…"

"Ugh… typical," Brian groaned. "I finally put something together than can be of use, but when I try to demonstrate… nope."

"THE REDNECKS HAVE BEEN RELEASED! I REPEAT! THE REDNECKS HAVE BEEN RELEASED!"

"Shit, we need to go. Come on!" Pia said as she and Freezeo rushed away. Brian tossed his device back into his bag and floated after them.

 **000**

Morgan, Holly, Sally, and Connor ended up running to the gym and hiding behind the workout facility. Morgan was satisfied with Sally being there, but was unsure about both Holly and Connor. Connor, in her eyes, was a liability that should have been eliminated much earlier. No offense to him. As for Holly, she just had absolutely no idea of what to make of her. All she knew was that she was nice and she was a good healer.

So, she was essentially clueless. "Come on, we need to search this place…"

"But what if we're seen?" Connor chimed in. "We don't want to compromise our position already…"

Morgan didn't really expect to hear that from him, so it took her a couple of seconds to respond. "Connor, they _just_ told them to come after us. I don't think they're that fast…"

"Plus, it doesn't matter if they see us," Sally added. "We just can't get hit by those stupid rubber bullets. So, come on..."

The Persian and Ampharos went around the side of the gym, sneaking toward the front doors, while the Swoobat and Bouffalant stayed behind momentarily. Exchanging looks, they soon followed the two of them.

Entering the gym, Morgan and Sally immediately split up and started checking each side of the facility. Morgan took the right, while Sally took the left. Connor and Holly came into the gym shortly after, seeing the two of them already in action.

"Uh… so what are we going for here?" Connor queried. "I think the statue would be obvious in a place like this."

"You know these pricks," Morgan replied as she hopped into the ring to check the short gap behind it. "What we need may be hidden somewhere completely idiotic just for our pain and their amusement."

"By that criteria, wouldn't the gym be one of the last places they'd place it?" Holly inquired upon hearing that reasoning. "Unless they decided to trap this place, I doubt that anything will harm us or cause us to harm ourselves…"

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense," Sally replied, putting an exercise back down. "It might be somewhere more dangerous like the cliff or the volcano."

"Most definitely," Connor spoke, his tone unamused. "Risking our immortal lives for a trailer statue while being shot at sounds _killer_ for _views_ …"

"So, which one do we check first?" Holly asked.

Morgan walked back over to the group, having heard the speculation of where their statue could be. "I'd say that we can split up and each take a landform, but that may just be counterproductive…"

"How?" Connor queried. "We can just break off in pairs, check the suspected areas, and meet back up here afterwards. And, like you said, Sally, we just can't get hit."

Morgan rose a brow at his insistence. This was definitely a major shift from the useless buffalo she had grown accustomed to. "You sure about that?"

"I mean, we might as well try," Connor replied with a shrug.

Morgan nodded. "Alright, fine. Connor, you're with me. Sally, you go with Holly."

They nodded in response, with Morgan letting out a sigh. "We meet back up here after we check our areas. Connor and I will check the cliff. You guys take the volcano."

"Gotcha," Sally replied with a confirming nod.

"Alright, let's go," Morgan stated as they all exited the gym. Separating, each pair rushed to their designated area.

 **000**

Aspen and Aura walked toward the washrooms to search it. They weren't really aware of any other _major_ places that they could look or hide in, so this was going to be their best bet. Entering, the two friends immediately took sides and started looking around each individual shower cubicle.

"I don't understand this stupid challenge at all," Aspen commented. "What's is the point of all of this?"

"At this point, the challenges are just meant to annoy us and bring joy to Victini's sadistic little heart. If he even has a heart to begin with…" Aura replied.

Checking each cubicle, the girls found nothing but suds and a few traces of fur in a few of them. No statues.

"Damn it, nothing's here," Aspen grumbled. "We need to look somewhere else…"

The shiny Glaceon sighed in irritation, despite knowing that it wouldn't be too easy. She started heading back out of the door, but she immediately stopped upon hearing voices nearby.

" _Hol' on, I'm gon' check out these fancy washing machine rooms…"_

It was the voice of Becky, the Whimsicott. Aura gasped and closed the door back. Seeing this Aspen rushed over. "What's up?"

"The Whimsicott's heading our way!" Aura replied. "What do we do?"

"We can't be hit by the bullets, so I guess just dodge her fire," Aspen reasoned. Seconds later, a much better idea popped into her head, leading her to gasp softly. "Wait… they never said that we can't fight back, defend ourselves…"

Immediately, Aura's eyes widened and a small smile formed on her face.

 **-000-**

Becky, using her gun, pushed open the door of the girls' side of the washrooms with a _creak_. She entered the vicinity, eyeing it in awe. "Wow… such fancy-pants spray heads…" she said, floating over and fiddling with the shower head of one of the cubicles.

Hiding behind the door, the two canines had an open shot to escape, but they decided to think larger. The fewer hunters there, the better the likelihood that their team would win. Well, it could apply to either team, but still, it could work out well.

Becky felt the presence of others, and upon turning around, smirked. "Well, well, well lookie here…"

Aura immediately fired an Ice Beam in her direction, which Becky promptly dodged. She fired two shots at the girls, who each dodged their respective bullets. Aspen tried charging, but ended up having to duck into one of the cubicles as Becky aimed at her.

Aura slid into another cubicle before taking the opportunity to fire another Ice Beam at the Whimsicott, she floated back, firing two shots at Aura, who jumped to the side. Aspen surrounded herself in a teal barrier before charging at Becky, who started continuously firing shots.

The rubber bullets were deflected due to Protect, making the Whimsicott smile. "Nice barrier thingamabobber, mutt. But as soon as it wears off-"

Becky didn't get to finish her threat, as Aura finally hit her mark, freezing the Whimsicott's body solid. "Finally!"

"Ya'll two jus' got lucky is all," Becky stated, glowering at the two of them with a smirk. "When I get outta here, I'mma make sure that you're the first ones I take out…"

"You'd have to know exactly where we're going, though," Aspen replied. "And I doubt that you'll be able to figure that out…"

With that, the two of them started leaving the washrooms, leaving the Whimsicott behind. She began calling out for help, prompting the two of them to run faster.

 **000**

Due to the island's lack of variety in terms of building structures and large structures in general, there weren't many places that the contestants could search. The only structures that could actually be searched were LeGrae, the gym, and the two cabins. The mountains, volcano, cliff, and beach were also options, but that would leave them out in the open.

Shine was leading her pack through the forest, unsure of where they should go. The dense woods made it a bit difficult to navigate, as they stumbled upon different pathways that often ended nowhere. Ace, Ashton, Frosty, and Carson were remaining silent, not having much of anything to say.

Eventually though, as they passed by a familiar tree with an axe wedged into it, Carson stopped and sighed. "Guys… stop."

They all obliged briefly, looking back at the bell with confused expressions. "What's wrong, Carson?"

"We've passed by this tree twice already," the Bronze Bell Pokemon explained, gesturing to the axe embedded in the trunk.

Shine sighed. "Fuck me…" she muttered to herself as she looked up at the sky, the trees blocking the sun.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ace queried with a huff, taking a seat.

"Well, sitting isn't really an option," Frosty spoke, watching the Sylveon. "We have a bunch of hillbillies after us _and_ we still have to find that trailer statue."

"I hope that we're not lost…" Ashton remarked, looking around.

"Well, the volcano is releasing some smoke in that direction," Carson said, point to the left, so we're not necessarily lost. We're just… in a different area of the forest, I think…"

"Well, we need to keep moving if we want to have a chance of _not_ being caught," Shine suggested. "This time, we just move forward. No turning…"

"That sounds like it could work. We'd have to run into _something_ at the end," Ashton replied.

Shine started walking again, with Frosty, Ashton, and Carson following suit. With a sigh, Ace followed them, not knowing what they were in for.

He definitely prefered Parafrosyni over this season, so far. For one, he had Chase with him, two, the personalities felt a bit livelier, three, Victini came and went, and four, the challenges weren't as mean-spirited, painful, or nonsensical. This entire island's atmosphere was riddled with negative energy.

As he thought, he ended up bumping into a tree, which dropped a pinecone of his head. Using a ribbon to rub his head, he groaned. He looked forward and noticed that he had actually lost the others. "Ugh… of course."

"Oh wee! I spy me a purty Sylveon," Ace heard a familiar, country voice say. This was followed by the sound of something zooming by his head. Yipping, he quickly started running forward, after the others that he had fallen behind from.

However, in doing so, he realized that he'd only end up getting all of _them_ out as well if whichever hillbilly it was caught up to him. Dodging whizzing bullets, the Sylveon took a hard left as Bucky emerged from the bushes, looking through the scope of his gun to get a good enough aim. He fired once again, but ended up hitting a tree.

"Slippery li'l varmit. But a mighty fine cute one he is…" Bucky commented as he continued following the Fairy-type.

 **-000-**

Ace panted as he rushed in this new direction, occasionally looking back to see if he was being followed. Much to his chagrin, he was, as more bullets zoomed past him. Looking up, he noticed a branch overhead and looked back before using his ribbons to reach up and grab hold of the branch.

Attempting to hoist himself up, Ace heard the branch cracking. The momentum of his movements caused the outstretched stem to snap, causing him to land on his back, with the branch landing on his stomach.

"Ugh… fuck…" he groaned in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, similar to being punched there.

Writhing in pain, the Sylveon opened his eyes, only to see the barrel of a gun in his face.

"How precious…" Bucky commented, aiming his gun at Ace's face. "Fairy boy lyin' spread-eagle with a barrel of a gun in his face. Now, I'll be willin' t' let ya go… if ya suck on _my_ loaded gun."

Hearing that, Ace immediately growled. Using his ribbons, he grabbed onto the Electivire's legs before forcefully pulling him, making him fall on his butt.

Ace rolled back onto his feet, a bit of pain still in his stomach, before running away from him.

 **000**

" **No one… is going to take advantage of me…" Ace growled.**

 **000**

Fez decided to go along with Klavier and Phill. He usually wouldn't bother being around Klavier due to his stalker tendencies, but since he and Sabrina were no longer together, he couldn't be bothered to be upset or annoyed at him.

At the moment, the three of them were venturing around the sandy beach, engaging in casual conversation while also looking out for any hillbillies or signs of where the statue should be.

"So, Fez, how did the sex feel?" Klavier asked rather awkwardly.

Fez gave him a weird look. "Uh… why do you care? Sabrina's not on the-"

"No, this isn't about Sabrina. I'm just… curious about it in general," Klavier replied, a blush growing on his face.

"Uh… it's ok. I mean, it's warm and kinda like velvet in my opinion," Fez explained, albeit a bit awkwardly. "And depending on how tight it is, it makes you finish at different times."

Phill groaned. "Klav, have you never watched porn before, either?"

"...I plead the fifth," the Gliscor immediately replied, his blush remaining on his face.

The Raticate smacked his lips, "I'll take that as a no."

"Is this the kind of stuff that you guys usually talk about?" Fez queried as they continued walking.

"Meh. Sometimes," Phill said with a shrug. "I'm the only ineligible bachelor of our little group. Kojo has Summer, and this lug has Holly."

Fez was surprised to hear about Klavier's relationship with Holly; he had known about Kojo and Summer already. "Huh, you're dating Holly?"

"Y-Yeah," Klavier replied, rubbing his arm sheepishly.

"Nice…" Fez commented. "I would have never thought that you'd choose _her_ , though. Sure, she's nice, but I just never imagined it…"

"Oh… uh, thanks," Klavier replied, laughing sheepishly.

"Yeah, they're lucky. I'll never get anyone…" Phill said shortly before tripping in a hole in the sand. "Ugh… what the hell?"

"I think that the world is tired of your self-loathing…" Klavier joked as he helped Phill up.

Fez inspected the hole that Phill stepped in, using his talons to dig into the hole. The Raticate and Gliscor saw what Fez was doing and grew intrigued.

"What are you doing, Fez?" Klavier asked, tilting his head to the side, perplexed.

"I'm just checking to see if this hole has anything. I mean, why would there be a random hole in the sand?" he asked rhetorically.

Klavier and Phill exchanged looks before looking back at the Unfezant.

"Nature?" Phill responded with a shrug.

Fez gave him a look of 'no shit'. "No duh. But knowing that this is a challenge where we have to look for something, it raises questions…"

Eventually, as he continued to dig with one of his legs, he felt something hard, making his eyes widen. "I got something!"

Klavier and Phill were pleasantly surprised; they honestly didn't expect him to find anything. As he grabbed hold of whatever it was and pulled it up, it was revealed to be a stone slab.

"What the hell?" Fez queried as he laid in on the sand, There was a strange inscription on it, rows on strange shapes, acting as letters. Klavier, Phill, and Fez eyed it in interest. Phill picked it up curiously, and immediately the marks glowed red.

He dropped it in an instant out of fright. "What is this thing?"

"Some sort of tablet…" Klavier said, looking over it. "I doubt that we can do anything with it, though."

"Wait… maybe this something that they placed here that'll help us out?" Fez queried, placing a foot on it. "I say we take it with us…"

"But, it could also be a thing that Victini put here to fuck with us…" Phill replied.

Klavier and Fez had already started walking again, leaving Phill talking to himself. He sighed.

 **000**

Sola led her group toward LeGrae. It was one of the only places she could think to look. And, it was large, so there were numerous places inside that they could search. Amethyst, who was staying quiet to whole time, noticed that both Taylor and Egridos were being quiet as well.

She expected both of them to be loud and obnoxious, especially in each other's presence. She was pleasantly surprised to hear nothing from either of them.

Sola seemed to be a bit perplexed by the silence as well. She was actually annoyed at the fact that Amethyst chose the two rowdiest people on their team to be in her group. But, then she added herself and Kojo, which was a bit confusing.

"You guys are quiet," Sola commented, turning her head as they continued their way through the forest. "You okay?"

"Yeah, peachy..." Kojo replied tonelessly, not exactly thrilled about the plan _or_ the challenge.

"I don't have anything to say," Taylor replied nonchalantly.

"Same…" Egridos muttered, looking at the ground.

Sola blinked upon hearing that. "Oh, well… alright, then."

The group made it to LeGrae, but not before noticing Dhaunt, Lassie, and Marion floating inside through the door. Seeing this, Egridos immediately groaned.

"I should have known they'd come here…" the Coffin Pokemon moaned.

"Egridos, just come on," Kojo stated. "The faster we're able to find the stupid statue and stay out of the sights of-"

"OOH-WEE! I'M LOVIN' THIS ISLAND!"

"Oh for fuck's sake, out of all of them, _he_ finds me?!" Kojo groaned.

"Well, I suggest that we hurry up and get into the school before the bastard gets here!" Taylor stated seriously as he floated toward the door. The others watched him in awe as he did this, turning to each other in confusion.

"Has… he _always_ been able to float?" Sola queried.

"I mean… Milotic have to ability to float, so I would assume so…" Amethyst replied.

"Huh, looks like he'll be more use to us after all," Kojo commented as he followed the Milotic into the building. Egridos, Sola, and Amethyst followed suit.

 **-000-**

Entering, Taylor looked around the place, his eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. The school looked the same as when they last entered it for the note collecting challenge. The repugnant odor wafted through the air, hitting everyone's nostrils like a truck.

"Mother of Arceus, why didn't they clean out this fucking place?" Sola recoiled, covering her nose with a paw. "This is fucking repulsive!"

"Remember. Victini's in charge," Egridos offered as an explanation. "You really think he'll take time out his schedule of inflicting sadness and torture to clean this place?"

"And if this place hasn't been cleaned, that means…" Kojo started.

"The traps are still in here," Taylor finished, his tone harsh. "Fucking perfect…"

"Well, now that we're in here, I think we should split up and cover more ground," Sola suggested.

"Did you not just hear the logic of the situation we're in?" Taylor queried, looking back at her sternly. "This place is still as disgusting as when we did that stupid note finding challenge, meaning that the traps are likely still here. And since this isn't the site of today's challenge, if we end up stumbling upon one of the traps and we fuck up… we're screwed!"

"I'm… actually inclined to believe that," Amethyst stated. "We have a better chance when we stay together in here. Or at least separate into two groups. Or three since Egridos is a ghost-type…"

Egridos gave her a look.

"Okay then.. " Sola replied half-heartedly. "I'll go with Kojo, you go with Taylor. Egridos, you're on your own…"

"Joy…" he drawled.

"Alright, let's-"

"You lot best get to runnin'!" they all heard a country voice say. Turning toward the door, they saw Lester aiming his gun right at them.

"Oh, you've got to be joking…" Kojo groaned.

"SPLIT UP!"

Gunfire rang out, with Lester firing toward Kojo in specific. The Mienshao was able to dodge the bullets and started running, along with the others. Egridos floated to the ceiling, Kojo and Taylor went forward and Sola and Amethyst ran to the right.

Lester wooted as he rushed after them, continuing to fire.

 **000**

Anthony, Marie, and Summer were hiding behind the Winner's Cabin. Summer was sitting down, thinking about Kojo's family and what he had told her, while Anthony and Marie were trying to come up with a viable strategy.

"Okay, this challenge is yet another 'find-it' challenge," Marie reasoned. "And there are only so many places that we can actually check on this borderline barren island."

"Yep," Anthony responded in agreement. "An abandoned high school, a gym in the middle of the forest, a shitty gazebo, shitty cabins, and a large cabin. _Sooo_ much variety here. We should be able to find it in _no_ time…" he continued, sarcasm oozing from his voice.

"And in addition, we have a bunch of nonsensical rednecks hunting us down with rubber fucking bullets for Arceus-knows-why…" Marie spoke, folding her arms. She let out of an exasperated sigh. "Each day this game annoys me more and more…"

Anthony rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. Feeling his touch, Marie let out a calmer breath. "Hey, this is just the two week mark. If you're able to make it this far, I know you can take it further…" he said reassuringly.

He wrapped his arms around her, with her linking her hands with his and holding them. Never in her life did she think that she'd be happily wrapped around in the arms of Anthony, nor did she think that he'd actually be _comforting_ her.

This "relationship" that they had going on was really making her feel like a new person. Not entirely, but just the feeling of being with a guy that actually cares for her and wants her to feel worthy, it was amazing.

Turning her head toward him, she immediately locked lips with him, their hands still together. The kiss only lasted a couple of seconds, as they still needed to focus. "Thanks," she replied lovingly, much to Anthony's happiness.

"Alright, where should we go?" Summer spoke up, getting up on her feet. She was going to have to talk to Kojo after this challenge was over.

"Hmm…" Marie started, moving away from Anthony, whose arms folded immediately after. "I actually don't know. Knowing how everyone else is, those places we mentioned were probably already searched."

"Well, that may be true… but what makes you think that the others actually searched thoroughly enough?" Anthony queried with a smirk.

Marie smiled at him, walking up to and jumping into the Blastoise's arms. Seeing this, Summer could only giggle. "Aww… how precious. I thought that you guys _weren't_ trying to be a kissy couple…"

"We're not kissing, now are we?" Anthony teased as they both gave her a teasing look. Marie let herself down, with Anthony's hands on her hips.

Marie rolled her eyes playfully, which Summer smiled at. "Alright, Anthony's right about that. So, we may need to double search everywhere."

Summer sighed. "Great…"

Suddenly, gunshots rang out suspiciously close by, startling them.

"That sounded close…" Anthony stated, looking around. "Come on, let's hurry and go check out the gym."

Nodding, the girls followed the Blastoise into the forest, trying to head to the gym. The gunshots started getting louder, causing them to run faster.

 **000**

Morgan and Connor reached the cliff, having stealthily kept themselves hidden in the underbrush. The pair did not really communicate as much, as neither of them seemed to have anything to talk about. They both knew their goal for the challenge, so there was no need for it, at least in their heads.

Eventually, hearing faint gunshots in the opposite direction and having a burning curiosity, Morgan decided to speak. "So… Connor? How did you and Taylor start dating? It just feels kinda sudden… doesn't it?"

"Not really. Everything about dating is sudden in general," Connor replied tonelessly as they continued walking. "You encounter someone a fair amount of times, if you like how they look, you ask them out. Or, if it's someone you've known for a while, then you ask them out sooner."

"So which of those applies to you and Taylor?"

"Love-hate…" Connor replied. "I didn't mention it. We pretty much hated each other, but he kinda showed it more than I did. I just let him unleash his anger at me."

"What?!" Morgan exclaimed in shock.

Connor shushed her, not wanting her to compromise their location. The silence filled the air a bit, the faint sound of leaves rustling in the trees filling their ears, as well as the faint fire of the guns. He sighed, looking back at Morgan, who had a stern expression on her face.

"Yes… I let him beat the shit out of me, throw me around, almost kill me pretty much…" Connor explained nonchalantly.

"And you're _dating him_?!" Morgan exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell anyone!? We would have handled it immediately!"

"I wanted to be able to handle it myself," Connor stated. "And, apparently, when I started standing up for myself, he started falling for me and treating me like a normal person. Well, moreso like a romantic partner…"

Morgan was taken aback, unsure of what to make of what she was hearing. "So… he fucks you up… you talk back to him… and he falls in love with you?!"

Connor shrugged. "Different people have different ways of handling things…" he replied as he stopped walking. The two of them had made it to the cliff.

"Alright," Morgan started, regaining her focus as she eyed the steep rock face. "Nobody's here, so let's try and hurry up before someone gets here."

Connor walked forward. "Hop on my back…" he stated.

"Uh…"

"Just do it…" he stated tonelessly.

Morgan sighed as she hesitantly climbed onto the Bouffalant's back, resting her head against his fluffy afro as she held on to him.

"Alright, hold on," he stated as he immediately started charging up the cliff, with the Persian sinking her claws into his sides in order to avoid slipping off.

Connor winced at the feeling, but continued charging up. Making it to the top, Connor skidded to a halt, causing Morgan's face to press into his fluffy hair. She withdrew her face, taking a breath and panting as she retracted her claws.

She shakily hopped off of his back, her head aching a bit. Looking around, she saw that nothing was up there. She groaned. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me…"

Connor sighed. "Great. Just great. Looks like we're heading back down..."

"Well, I am _not_ getting on your back again…" Morgan replied, giving him a stern glare as Connor chortled.

"Figured you wouldn't," Connor replied with a smirk.

As the two turned around, they immediately paled. Behind them, pumping his gun, was Bubba. The Ursaring had a very intimidating, yet teasing expression etched onto his face as he aimed and prepared to squeeze the trigger.

"Sorry about this Morgan…" Connor whispered to her, making the Classy Cat Pokemon look at him in confusion.

The Bouffalant headbutted Morgan off of the edge of the cliff before jumping off after her just as the Ursaring fired numerous rounds toward them.

 **000**

" **He COULD have just told me his plan!" Morgan exclaimed as her fur dripped water, holding her head in pain.**

 **000**

" **At least we didn't get shot…" Connor stated in relief, his own fur sopping wet.**

 **000**

Dhaunt, Marion, and Lassie were searching for the trailer statue in the school, as per Dhaunt's suggestion. The large building _had_ to have _something_ , right?

Hearing gunshots echo throughout the hall immediately made the three ghost-types wary and anxious as they approached a door.

"What the hell is the point of the hillbillies trying to shoot us?" Lassie groaned. "Why does there need to be a stupid theme? The central themes of these challenges are already pain, annoyance, and torture…"

Opening the door, they found themselves in the room that Fez got locked in during the note finding challenge. The large chasm was still there, with the black tarps still covering the windows and the posters were still covered in tar.

"Ah… the smell of plastic and sulfur returns," Lassie commented.

"Any sign of the statue?" Marion queried, looking around the room.

Dhaunt floated out over the chasm, looking around the room. "Nope. Nothing…"

"Even in the chasm?" the Froslass questioned, raising a brow.

Dhaunt groaned, floating down into the chasm in order to investigate. The gunshots suddenly got louder, startling the two girls, who immediately made themselves disappear upon hearing approaching footsteps.

Lester rushed forward and noticed the open door. "Hmm…"

Dhaunt floated back up, an annoyed look on his face. Seeing Lester, the Gengar's eyes widened. The Furret smiled and immediately fired a shot, hitting Dhaunt in the stomach.

"OW!" he exclaimed, holding his stomach.

The ghost- and poison-type promptly vanished into thin air, with Lester chuckling in the aftermath. "So long ghostie boy…"

 **-000-**

Dhaunt found himself inside of an old, rusty cage on the beach. Mew was sitting in a chair texting on his phone, while Victini was glancing thoughtfully at the monitors in front of him. This was quite a change, as he'd usually be laughing or just watching everything without a worry. Looking around and assessing the situation, realization suddenly hit him.

"Damn it! I'm first out!" Dhaunt exclaimed in aggravation. "If we lose, I'll be the scapegoat! Fuuuuuck!"

Seconds later, Marion and Lassie appeared in the cage as well. Dhaunt sighed in relief. "Well at least there are options now…"

"That stupid Furret tricked us!" Lassie growled. "He left and then immediately came back!"

"Those bullets hurt…" Marion complained, rubbing her arm.

"You guys have been through worse…" Mew commented.

"That's not an excuse!"

 **000**

Shine, Ashton, Carson, and Frosty glanced around, realizing that they'd lost Ace a while ago. The Espeon grew worried, as the Sylveon should have been right behind them.

"Okay, we lost Ace. What are we going to do now?" Carson asked nervously.

"We need to keep going and find the statue," Frosty answered. "Ace getting out first only put a target on his back for elimination. We can't worry about him now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who said anything about elimination?" the Sun Pokemon of the group queried. "Just because Ace is lost or probably got shot doesn't mean he deserves to be eliminated."

"Okay, okay," Frosty replied with a sigh.

"Hmm…" Ashton hummed in thought. "What if this was a trick and Victini still has the statues on him?"

"What sense would that make?" Shine asked. "Sure it's plausible, but why would-"

Shine immediately stopped mid-sentence, figuring out the answer as soon as she asked it.

"If this is the case and that bastard has the statues… I'm gonna be pissed," the Espeon stated, tightening her glare.

"This is just a challenge about lasting the longest without getting shot…" Carson reasoned with a questioning tone.

"No, no. Let's just… Let's just give it the benefit of the doubt," Frosty suggested. "We forge ahead and look. That trick thing may be a possibility, but it also may not be, so let's just go for it."

Gunshots echoed throughout the forest, startling them as they looked around. Rustling bushes caused unease among the group, as they worried that they were surrounded.

"Shit… I think we're in trouble…" Shine muttered.

"W-What do we do!?" Carson panicked.

The rustling of the bushes got louder, and they eventually identified the specific set of bushes that were rustling. The four of them moved away from it warily, preparing to run. Just then, a few more gunshots were heard and, out of fright, Frosty blasted an Ice Beam, just as Ace ran out, causing him to be hit by two rubber bullets.

His frozen body disappeared and the others eyed Frosty, shocked at what he just did. Frosty was surprised himself, but it was an accident. "Hey, I got scared!"

"As you lot _should_ be…" they heard a thick, country voice say as they turned and saw Bucky standing there, stroking the barrel of his gun.

"RUN!" Carson exclaimed as he and the others started running in the opposite direction. Bucky swiftly fired four shots, hitting Carson twice, and hitting Frosty in the back of his right head. The two of them vanished, while Shine and Ashton continued to run.

Bucky chuckled as he watched the two of them run away from him. "Such a purty view…" he commented before running after them while stroking his gun.

 **000**

Annie, Titan and Cramad returned to their usual meeting place, where they found Clay passed out on a tree stump with a wooden cup in his left hand.

The three of them were confused at this sight, as it wasn't that expected. Hearing gunshots, Cramad and Titan looked around, while Annie approached the unconscious Sudowoodo. Smacking his arm, Clay's eyes flickered open with a groan.

"What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with his right arm.

"What the hell happened to _you_?" Annie queried. "Did you get drunk off of syrup?"

The Sudowoodo shrugged. "It happens. My body processes syrup and stuff weirdly, so I end up getting drunk off of my ass…"

"Huh," Titan commented. "Never heard of that before..."

"Yeah, my parents tried to get a doctor to figure out why I always passed out when I ate pancakes and waffles, but they didn't know what it was so… oh well," Clay replied with a shrug. "So, what's going on with you guys?"

Suddenly, numerous gunshots answered his question, and also made him jump in his seat. "What the hell was that!?"

"Hillbillies," Cramad answered simply. "It's a part of our latest, stupid challenge."

"Hillbillies firing guns…" Clay commented investedly. "Well, at least they're getting creative…"

"Yeah, apparently we have to find a statue that looks like a trailer, but there aren't that many places for us to look…" Cramad replied.

"Well, where all have you guys checked?" Clay queried.

"Just the forest so far," Annie replied with a sigh. "Everywhere else has probably either been searched already, _being_ searched at this very moment, or has one of those rednecks patrolling around it."

"Well, you guys should check the lake," Clay suggested. "Maybe they put them down there. I wouldn't put it behind them."

More gunshots echoed throughout the forest, making Clay sigh. "Well, that didn't sound too close, so hurry up and check the lake."

"I doubt that they'd expect us to search the stupid lake," Titan replied. "I mean, Victini's a jackass for sure, but he's not _completely_ unfair."

"You never know…" Clay replied with a shrug.

Being the male of the group of three, Titan sighed as he headed to the lake. "Watch over the girls, Clay. I'll be back…"

"You got it!" Clay stated as he saluted him.

"So Clay, how's life outside of the competition?" Annie queried. "I know you said that it's pretty boring back at your town, but have you tried dating anyone? Having sex? Going out on walks?"

Clay blushed at the mention of dating and sex; it was a pretty sudden question. "Uh...I'll say that, at the very least, I am not a virgin," he replied sheepishly.

"Ooh… and who was the lucky lady?"

"I plead the fifth," Clay said instantly.

 **-000-**

Titan jumped into the lake, swimming down to the bottom in order to check and make sure that the statue _wasn't_ there. Scanning the lake floor, he sighed to himself. " _Typical_ …"

He swam back toward the surface. Breaking through, he was immediately met with the barrel of the shotgun being pointed at him by Bubba. "Oh fuck me…"

 **-000-**

Titan was teleported to the cage, his head aching from being shot at such a close proximity. Groaning, he looked around and saw that Annie, Cramad, Freezeo, Marion, Dhaunt, and Lassie were all there from their team. On the other team, Sally, Frosty, Holly, Sola, Carson, and Ace were there.

"Well, these nimrods are actually doing work," Titan commented in annoyance, his head still aching.

"Where the hell is the statue?!" Sally exclaimed. "We're already captured, you might as well tell us!"

Mew boredly pointed to two statues sitting next to Victini, making the others' eyes widen. "It's a trick challenge…" the pink feline explained. "He wanted to see if you all were actually going to be smart…"

"Ashton was right!" Carson exclaimed, turning to Frosty.

"Craaaap!" Frosty groaned.

"Yep, so it looks like we're waiting until everyone but one of you is captured…" Mew replied.

Everyone in the cage groaned in annoyance.

 **000**

Amethyst, Taylor, Egridos, and Kojo found themselves back at the front of the school. Kojo and Amethyst looked especially winded, as Amethyst was covered in a black, sticky substance, and Kojo had bruises over his body.

"I… hate... this... game..." Kojo commented, panting heavily.

"Well, we lost Sola, which is bad," Amethyst commented.

"And there was no sign of the statues, which is also bad…" Taylor chimed in. "We need to get out of here before that fuckhead finds out where we are."

"Agreed," Egridos nodded.

The four of them started exiting the school. Once they were out out of the vicinity, they immediately heard shuffling from the surrounding foliage. One could blame the gentle breeze blowing through the air, but the rustling was much harsher.

"Shit, we need to go, now!" Kojo stated as he and the others began rushing in the opposite direction. Well, all of them except for Amethyst, who was suspicious.

She didn't think that was another one of the rednecks, as they would have started shooting immediately due to their cover. She approached the bushes, just as a Furfrou bumped into her.

Aspen shook herself before seeing who she had run into. Seeing that it was Amethyst, she let out a sigh. "There weren't any of those stupid rednecks over here were they?"

Due to her being on the opposing team, Amethyst was tempted to lie. But, just as she was about to speak, Aura emerged from the bushes next to Aspen, spitting out leaves.

"As a matter of fact-"

"Duck!" Aura yelped as brought a paw down on Aspen's back.

Amethyst was caught off guard and hit on the side of the neck by a rubber bullet, making her yell out in pain. "OW!"

As Aspen and Aura retreated back into the bushes, Amethyst turned to see Lester running in her direction. He passed by her, his musty, disgusting scent filling her nostrils, as he went after the Furfrou and Glaceon.

She was teleported away a few seconds later.

 **-000-**

Kojo, Taylor, and Egridos headed toward the lake. If it wasn't already obvious, it was Taylor's idea. The Milotic floated into the water, leaving Kojo and Egridos at the edge.

"What the hell, Taylor?!" Kojo shouted.

"What?" Taylor replied, rising back up. "You can swim and hold your breath, can't you?"

"Yes, but what are the fucking odds of the trailer statue being down there?" Kojo reasoned. "Seriously, there's no point in going down there."

"Well, it gives a good hiding space, which seems to be a good reason to me…" Taylor replied. "Now either get in here or find another hiding place."

Without a word, Egridos entered the water, making himself invisible, in addition. Kojo groaned to himself before looking around and noticing that Amethyst was no longer with them. His eyes widened.

"Shit… we lost Amethyst, now!" he exclaimed.

"She decided to stay back, so that's her own fault," Taylor replied. "Now are you coming in or not?"

"Ugh… _fine_ ," Kojo gave in as he sat down and lowered himself into the lake. "We're gonna just be sitting Ducklett right here.."

"With that attitude of yours, we will…" Taylor replied. "Just duck down, hold your breath and wait…"

"Wait for what?"

"For the challenge to end!" Taylor exclaimed. "We just have to hope that these damn rednecks get everyone on the other team, first…"

"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard…" Kojo replied. "What if the other team ends up finding their damn statue!?"

"Then we eliminate a _weak link_ on the team…" Taylor replied nonchalantly. "It's not rocket science…"

Hearing that, Kojo rolled his eyes. As long as it wasn't him being eliminated, he didn't care.

 **000**

" **Usually I'm not one to agree with people like Taylor, but right now, I don't really give a shit …" Kojo stated.**

 **000**

Brian and Pia made it to the Reuniclus' lair, having lost Freezeo. As a defense, Pia teleported a large boulder in front of the entrance. "Well, that sucked…"

"Those works are precise…" Brian responded, placing his sack of devices down. "This is getting so annoying. Why won't my devices just work like I want them to?"

Pia took a seat on his bed before folding her arms. "Hmm… Well, have you thought about how you've been creating them?"

"What? Explain yourself, woman," Brian demanded, turning to face her.

Pia rolled her eyes. "Have you been using your abilities as a psychic-type to ensure that they work correctly?"

Brian stood in silence, a look of irritation etching itself on his face. He facepalmed himself. Seeing this reaction from him, Pia rose a brow.

"You haven't used your ability as a psychic-type to aid in your invention creation?" Pia deadpanned.

"My pure, evil mind is enough to-"

"No," Pia interrupted. "None of that. Your 'pure, evil mind' has done nothing but screw you over. You need to actually use your psychic-type abilities and stop trying to strictly engineer everything manually."

"That would mean taking the easy way out. That means an e-"

"It means that your inventions may actually fucking work," Pia interrupted once again. "Now, enhance them and get them to work…"

Brian gave her a look before grumbling to himself. Pulling out his Spectral Shooter, he held it steady as a light blue aura surrounded himself and the weapon.

The Reuniclus eventually stopped, pointing his ray at the boulder that Pia placed in front of the entrance. Once the beam hit, the boulder disappeared in an instant, making Brian's eyes widen. "It works! It actually works!"

"See. When you actually use your head, you can accomplish great things," Pia replied.

"You have presented yourself as a truly worthy ally, and as such, I shall promote you to my second-in-command," Brian stated, with Pia sweatdropping in annoyance.

"Uh…. Brian, I don't-"

"With your aid, my diabolical schemes shall go as planned!" Brian cackled.

Suddenly, his evil laugh was silenced and replaced with a groan of pain as a bullet struck him on the side of his face. Turning toward the entrance, he saw a Cacturne seemingly floating over the entrance.

"Damn it, Brian!" Pia exclaimed as the Cacturne fired at her as well.

 **000**

" **Oops…" Brian stated, laughing sheepishly.**

 **000**

Morgan and Connor were walking back toward the gym, both of them still wet from their grand leaps into the water. Morgan was still a bit peeved at Connor's actions, and as a result, was staying silent.

Connor felt like she was being childish, but decided to leave her be nonetheless. As they reached the gym once again, they saw that there was no one there.

"They're still not back yet?" Morgan queried.

"Well, the volcano _is_ pretty far," Connor chimed in. "Also, good to hear you talking again…"

Morgan rolled her eyes as she entered the gym, leaving Connor out in the open. Seeing this, the Bash Buffalo Pokemon promptly started following her in, when he noticed a couple of small pellet-like items on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he saw that they were shaped like bullets, making his eyes widen.

He looked around the area warily, as a gentle breeze caused a few leaves to shake. He entered the gym, with Morgan eyeing him confusedly. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, I just saw some rubber bullets outside on the ground…" Connor explained. "I think Sally and Holly got hit when they came back…"

Morgan swore to herself. "Fuck… what are we gonna do now?"

"Well, considering that they've probably crossed this place off of their list, I think we'll be fine just waiting here for a while," Connor replied.

"Oh yeah, _great_ plan," Morgan replied. "Sit here and wait for one of the hicks to walk by and spot us instead of just continuing to look!"

Connor was a bit surprised by her outburst "Jeez, what the heck is wrong with everyone?" Connor queried, walking away from. "You all are acting like this game actually means anything and treating each other like shit…"

Morgan was prepared to respond, but what he said actually had some truth behind it. Everyone _was_ acting a bit out of character. Well, _almost_ everyone anyway. Looking to the Bouffalant, who was looking out of the windows of the gym, Morgan let out a sigh.

"I guess you're right…" she mumbled, as Connor turned to her, having heard her. "I _have_ been a bit of a controlling bitch…"

"I just don't see the point of getting so riled up over a game that only one person is going to win, and where the host of said game takes pleasure in injuring us every chance he gets…" Connor responded. "Sure, it's a lot of money, but if we're getting royalties from reruns… what's the point?"

Realizing that, Morgan's eyes widened, shocked at the fact that she hadn't thought about it in that light, _and_ that out of everyone, _Connor_ was reminding her.

"I… I never thought about that," Morgan admitted. "I mean, a million Poke _is_ a lot, but if we're still getting money regardless…"

"...why act so douchey?" Connor finished with a shrug as he continued gazing out of the window.

A small smile formed on Morgan's lips as she walked over to Connor. She pecked his cheek, making him blush faintly, and jump. He couldn't help but stutter. "W-What was that for?" he asked softly, still blushing.

"For helping me actually see our situation through clear lenses…" Morgan replied, taking a few steps away from him.

"Heh, well, it's no problem…" Connor chuckled sheepishly.

 **000**

 **Morgan let out a breath. "Okay. Connor helped me clear my head a bit. This game is shit, and we're getting paid anyway. So, I can just relax and wait until I get eliminated. I honestly don't care anymore…" she giggled.**

 **000**

Anthony, Marie, and Summer ended up finding a cave near the mountains. They hadn't caught sight of any of the rednecks, though the sound of gunfire rang out continuously around them.

Summer was scoping out the outside, as the cave that they were in had nothing of value inside of it. She hadn't heard any gunfire as of late, so she assumed that it was clear. "Guys, come on, I think the coast is clear."

Getting no response, she felt that she needed to repeat herself. "Guys!"

Groaning, she went back into the cave, only to see the two water-types lying on the ground, with Marie lying on the Shellfish Pokemon's chest, looking at him with narrowed eyes. Anthony returned the blissful look, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Seeing this, Summer her arms, tilting her head. "Am I interrupting something?"

The couple turned to Summer and blushed, but didn't move from their position. Marie kept her head on the Blastoise's chest, turning to Summer. "Nah, just got pretty bored in here…"

"Well, then get up so we can keep looking for the statue!" Summer retorted, gesturing to the cave exit.

"Ugh… How well could that asshole have hidden the damn thing?" Anthony queried, sitting up with Marie.

"I don't know, but I just know that sitting here not doing anything won't do us any good," Summer explained. "So, come on…"

"Yes mother…" Anthony mocked, rolling his eyes as he stood onto his feet, helping Marie up.

"Such a gentleman," Marie teased, making Anthony chortle and roll his eyes.

"Come on you, two…" Summer urged. "You really _are_ acting like a kissy couple at this point…"

Anthony scoffed. "Oh please. No way are we like the other ones. We aren't having sex, making out, or distracting ourselves at any and every given moment…"

Summer rose a brow. "And what do you call what you two were just doing?"

Marie turned to Anthony, who shrugged his shoulders. They _had_ just been distracting themselves out of boredom, but that couldn't have really meant anything. Right?

Seeing their expressions, Summer chortled. "I rest my case…"

"Nah…" Anthony replied, waving her off. "We haven't fucked at all and lying on the ground doesn't equate being distracted."

"Whatever," Summer replied as she headed toward the exit.

The two water-types followed her to the exit, with Summer having to check the surroundings once again to make sure nobody came by while they were back inside.

"Alright, come on," the Typhlosion urged as she stepped out of the cage, with the Feraligatr and Blastoise following close behind.

Marie decided to regain her focus and act as the leader again. "Alright, I say that we go toward the volcano to see if anything's there."

"And I say that we go back to the beach and ask Mew for a god damn hint…" Anthony said, folding his arms.

"You really think Dick-tini will allow Mew to give us clues or advice?" Summer queried.

"Mew's his own person; he can do whatever the fuck he wants," Anthony replied. "Well, except back out of doing these seasons..."

"I suppose you're right in that regard…" Summer replied.

"Yep. So bring your asses…" Anthony said, waving for them to follow him.

The girls exchanged looks before following the Shellfish Pokemon.

 **000**

Shine traipsed through the forest, alone. She had lost Ashton not too long ago after they had run into the Whimsicott, Becky. She was uncertain about whether Ashton had been hit or not, but considering that Becky went after the Meganium rather than herself, it was a reasonable assumption.

Sighing, the Espeon watched her surroundings as she approached the volcano. The heat radiating from the large rock formation caused a few beads of sweat to form on her head. Surrounding herself with a light blue aura, the Sun Pokemon floated upwards, toward the top.

Landing atop the magma-filled crater, Shine looked around, but didn't spot any pedestal or figure that would indicate that the statue was up there.

"Fuck…" she swore to herself as she circled the crater.

"Fuck is right, sexy lady…" the Espeon heard in her ear. She was suddenly picked up by her tail, a gun pointed at her face.

It was Bucky, and he had a sneer etched on his face. "Put me down!" Shine growled.

"Calm yourself li'l missy. I'mma offer you a deal. If you let me have your butt… I'll forget I ever saw ya up here…"

"How'd you even get up here so fast?!"

"Fox pixie man said that you lot would be likely t' check up here, so after I lost you and the other one, I just came up here to relax and wait," he exclaimed. "And wouldn't you know it, he was right. So… whaddya say? Butt play… or bullet to tha face?"

Shine didn't say anything, but her eyes began to glow.

 **-000-**

Fez, Klavier, and Phill were walking past the volcano, still wondering about the tablet they found on the beach.

"So what do you think we're supposed to do with it?" Phill queried.

"I don't know, but I hope that-"

"AND THE HORRIBLE HO-OHS WIN!"

"Wait, we won?" Fez queried.

Suddenly, the three of them were slammed to the ground by Bucky, who landed on them, creating a small crater in the ground. All of them groaned in pain.

 **000**

Back at the beach, Victini shook his head. "Wow, you guys were _really_ dumb," Victini said.

"How the hell were we supposed to know that your carelessness actually meant something?!" Summer exclaimed.

"Oh shush…" Victini replied. "And, looking at how this challenge went, it helped me realize something…"

"That you're an asshole with no sense of morality and should be arrested for ev-"

"No," Victini interrupted. "That even though you guys are all losers, you all deserve a _few_ more places to interact on this island, so… I'm bringing back the jail _and_ the stadium!"

Nobody cheered or even reacted. They were simply in awe at the idiocy of Victini. But, despite how they felt, they were all glad that they would have more places on this boring shitstain of an island.

"Anyways, Lugias… looks like you'll be eliminating someone tonight," Victini teased.

The Lugias that were there exchanged looks, having a good idea of who they wanted gone.

 **000**

"So, are we still agreed on sending Egridos home?" Sally queried as she sat at the gazebo with the others.

Ace looked nonchalant, as did Shine, Morgan had a rather calm demeanor, and Sola was tapping the table, thinking about it.

"I'm not so sure," Sola spoke up. "I mean, thinking about it, I don't think he should just yet, but still pretty soon. All he did was act like a dick, but now that Lassie's broken him, he's pretty tame, so he shouldn't be much of an annoyance _or_ hindrance in the game…"

"I agree," Morgan said with a sigh. "I mean, it's not that serious this time around."

"What do you mean?" Shine queried, surprised at her sudden chill demeanor.

"Well, believe or not, while I was working with him, Connor made some valid points and helped me realize something…" Morgan explained.

"What?"

"There's no point in going crazy or being so tryhard and serious over this sadistic game when we're already getting paid royalties from previous seasons…" Morgan explained with a smile. "So, I say that we dial it back a bit. Plus, we got the jail back, so things are starting to look up a little…"

The others exchanged looks of surprise. All of that _did_ make sense! But, there was no shame is still wanting to try and win.

"Well, that may be the case… but no harm in still strategizing," Sola giggling. "So, I say that, instead of Egridos, we get out a weak link. And that role belongs to Carson, Amethyst, and Frosty."

"I vote Frosty," Ace chimed in. "He hasn't really done anything interesting or significant other than get Farra eliminated by freezing her."

"I can get behind that…" Sally commented.

The others nodded and muttered in agreement.

 **000**

At the elimination ceremony, the Lugias sat at their respective spots. Mew looked indifferent, while Victini rubbed his hands together.

"Alright, time for another one of you losers to get sucked away…" the Victory Pokemon stated. "So, let's see who you've chosen to fill that role."

Mew sighed. "You guys know the drill. Sally, Holly, Ashton, Amethyst, Carson, Morgan, Sola, Shine, Ace, Kojo, Connor, and Taylor… You guys are stuck here."

"And that leaves… Frosty and Egridos…" Victini finished. "Now, let's see… Frosty, you're useless to your team and have hardly any impactful allies remaining…"

"Is this part really necessary?" the Snowstorm Pokemon replied.

"And Egridos… You've been an annoyance to pretty much everyone… _and_ turned into more of a dickhead because you felt like 'the shit'," Victini replied.

Egridos blinked in response. "Can we hurry this along. I already know that I'm leaving… Hell, even _I_ voted for myself."

"Sheesh. Completely ruin the suspense why don't ya?!" Victini replied. "Egridos, you're out…"

"Whatever…" the Coffin pokemon replied. "Let's just get this over with…"

 **000**

Egridos was sitting inside of the elimination device, with Mew still holding an indifferent expression and Victini smirking.

"Well, time for you to go loser…" Victini stated.

"Y'know, the only loser here is you…" Egridos stated tonelessly. "You're so pathetic that you're actually keeping this trainwreck of a show going because you have nothing better to do in your pathetic life…"

"And you're getting divorced, have no children, will likely lose half of what you own, and will likely never find love again because of your history, so… yeah. You have fun with that," Victini said before pressing the button, sending the coffin away.

He took a breath. "Man, that feels good."

Mew only shook his head before teleporting away.

"Who will be eliminated next time? Find out next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!"

 **000**

 **Yeah, Egridos is gone now. Whatever. Anyways, I'll see you all next time on Total Pokemon Underdogs. See ya, bye.**


	15. Merry Fishmas!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon Underdogs… the competitors were on a hunt for statues while being hunted by hillbillies. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds. Frosty found some new friends in Ashton, Amethyst, Carson, and Holly. Annie found herself being annoyed by Connor and Taylor's sudden relationship due to relatability. And Anthony and Marie slowly moved closer to full-on smooch city. In the challenge, the contestants had a very tough time locating the statue, but it was soon revealed that the statues were still at the start! After numerous gunshots and painful wounds, the Horrible Ho-Ohs proved victorious, and the Lugias said buh-bye to coffin boy Egridos.**

 **What will occur this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon...Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

It was 11:49 in the morning as the sun beamed over the island. The heat wasn't as bad as it was a few days ago, but it was still rather humid. A fair amount of the contestants were at the beach relaxing and splashing about in the cool ocean water.

The overall tone of the island slowly began shifting after Egridos' departure and the addition of the jail and stadium for more entertainment. Everyone actually felt a tad bit more chipper, but the fact that they were still in _this_ game kept their happiness in check.

 **000**

Anthony and Marie were in the living room of the Winner's Cabin, the air conditioning on full blast. The couple was lying on the couch, just admiring each other. Marie was lying atop the Blastoise, breathing softly.

Anthony grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over them. Marie giggled at this. "Y'know, we can just turn off the AC."

"Nah, leave it on," Anthony replied with a smirk. "I like being like this you. I mean, we're not being all lovey-dovey, but we're together and we're still able to just..."

"...Enjoy each other as we are?" Marie finished with a giggle.

"Pretty much," Anthony replied with a chuckle, staring into her eyes.

Marie leaned down, planting a kiss on his lips. Anthony smirked, rubbing her hips before rolling over on their sides. "Hmm… You want to agree to drop this whole 'trial phase' thing?" Marie queried, their snouts mere centimeters away from each other.

"I'm fine with that, if you are," Anthony responded, pressing their snouts together.

Chortling, Marie kissed him once again before feeling herself being wrapped around by the couch cushions. She sighed, breaking the kiss. "Can we move this to the bedroom? I feel like I'm being sucked into the couch."

"Aww. The couch wants a taste of you," Anthony teased as he sat up, only to roll off the couch accidentally and land on the floor. "Arceus, dammit…"

Marie smirked. "And it _doesn't_ want to a taste of _you_ ," the Feraligatr replied smugly.

Anthony growled, getting to his feet, the blanket sliding off of him and hitting the wood below. He reached over, picking the Big Jaw Pokemon up bridal style, making her laugh.

"You're so cute…" Marie teased.

"Oh ha ha," the Blastoise replied as they headed toward the back rooms.

The Shellfish Pokemon took his lady to their room. They entered the room and he carried her to their bed. Yes, _their_ bed. Lately, Marie never bothered going back to her own bed, she just slept peacefully with Anthony. There weren't any complaints; in fact, the girls actually _encouraged_ it and the guys he shared the room with didn't mind at all.

Anthony laid her on the bed before climbing over her and locking their lips together. As the couple continued to engage in their makeout session, a thought entered each other heads, leading to the actions slowing down.

Anthony's lips parted from Marie's slowly as they looked at each other in unsurety and befuddlement. The Blastoise lifted himself up before crawling up to and sitting against the wall. Marie sat up as well, letting out a sigh.

"You thinking the same thing as me?" she asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Anthony let out his own sigh. "We don't have to end it…"

"What?!" Marie exclaimed in surprise. "That was the _last_ thing on my mind!"

The Blastoise sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. He thought that she was going to suggest that they end it before things got _too_ serious and distracting. "Well, what _was_ on your mind, then?"

"I think that we should just calm ourselves and keep our relationship stable. All the other times have been fun and fine, but…"

"Yeah… As soon as I got on top of you and we started getting friskier, I just felt like something whacked me in the back of the head," he explained with a chuckle.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two. "So… We just treat each other like we're _not_ in a relationship?"

Hearing that, Marie gained a thoughtful look, thinking of what make the most sense. She didn't think that they had to treat each other like strangers or as if there isn't any attraction. "Hmm… Maybe we just tone down all of the love-related stuff that we were doing. Especially during challenges."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Anthony replied with a nod. "Don't need a distraction. But, when we're alone…"

He placed a hand over hers, making her giggle and roll her eyes. "When we're out of challenges, we can do whatever we want. As long as things don't escalate to the point where we actually… y'know."

"Pssh. We don't even have condoms. I don't think we'd really be able to-"

"Um… you know that there's more than one place down there, right?" Marie explained, giving him a look.

Anthony's eyes widened and a blush spread on his face. "Well, uh…"

"I was speaking on the fact that there are cameras around and I don't want a video of us having sex on some shitty porn site," Marie replied.

Anthony sighed, holding his head. "What is wrong with me?"

Marie rolled over onto him. "You tell me," she replied with a smirk.

Anthony smirked back.

 **000**

 **Marie sat in Anthony's lap in the confessional.**

" **Well, I guess Summer was right after all…" Marie stated. "We were getting too lovey-dovey, and us making out this time just… got us thinking about it."**

" **Yeah," Anthony added."We** _ **were**_ **being lazy and focusing just on each other last challenge, and that's a problem. So, we're restricting our affection to before and after challenges…"**

" **Yep," Marie said, kissing his cheek. "We'll be hearing more of your crappy sarcasm soon enough…"**

" **And we'll hear you bossing us around like servants again in no time…" Anthony replied, making Marie gape before he kissed her again.**

 **000**

Morgan, Shine, Sola, Ace, and Sally were leaving the beach after nearly two hours of relaxing under the sun _and_ in the water. Ever since Morgan explained her new point of view regarding the game, they had been calming themselves down and just trying to enjoy themselves.

It had been a couple of days since the last challenge, and they had been very relaxed. With Egridos gone, they didn't have much to really worry about, so they just enjoyed their time there.

They were heading to the jail to check it out. It was still peculiar, considering the fact that the original island was completely demolished, that Victini was able to bring the jail and stadium back. Sure, him being a psychic-type is a plausible answer, but it rose other questions. Did he just fake the original island explosion… or did he seriously just fish the stadium and jail, that somehow remained intact, out of the water?

"You think the jail still has the phone?" Sola queried with a suggestive smirk on her face.

"Sola, Victini records us in there, remember?" Sally reminded, seeing her smirk. "I don't think that the phone should be the first thing you go to."

"Hmph. Well, Victini already has video of everything that we've done throughout the series, so I honestly couldn't care less," Sola replied. "He already has ammo on everyone anyway, so no use in trying to keep it hidden…"

"Wow, someone's an exhibitionist," Shine teased.

"Technically, we're all exhibitionists if we've ever made out with or had sex with someone on the show," Morgan explained. "People watch us, remember?"

"Exactly," Sola replied.

"So, when do you guys think the next challenge will be?" Ace queried, choosing to tune out the sex recording conversation. "It's been a few days hasn't it?"

"These bastards are probably just prolonging our stay on this island, as usual," Shine replied with a shrug. "I've come to accept the fact that two to four months of my life are occupied by this damn game every time I'm brought back…"

"Rather be home spooning Shade, huh?" Morgan teased.

"Of course," Shine replied. "Compared to our own bed and his fur, these beds are like concrete."

"Well, specifically the loser cabin beds, but those are shitty on purpose," Sally chimed in. "The ones in the Winner Cabin are much softer and relaxing."

"Meh," the Espeon responded with a shrug as they finally reached the large, metal building.

Barbed wire lined the top of the building. The metal exterior was turning an orangish color, the result of rusting. There were numerous, small barred windows on the outside, as well as two normal ones near the bottom of the building. The doors were already open, with one of the doors already being off of its hinges.

Peering inside, the alliance members grew intrigued by the fact that this jail had a different appearance all together, meaning that this was more than likely a jail that they've never experienced. Entering the incarceration facility, the girls and Ace looked around in interest.

The interior of this jail was similar to the original one, however, there seemed to be an extra floor, and there was a large elevator in the middle of the building. The stairs against the wall were zigzagged, with each set stopping on a different floor.

There were also cells on nearly every floor. On the first floor, there was no office at all, causing a bit of disappointment.

"Damn it. This _is_ different. There's no office around here…" Sola replied, looking around and seeing only cells.

Ace approached the elevator out of curiosity and saw a directory on the side.

"Mmm… I guess in this jail the office is on the seventh floor," Ace said, looking at the directory.

"Huh…" Sally said, looking up. She noticed that the elevator didn't stop on any floors, it simply shot straight up into a circular hole in the ceiling. "Uh, Ace. Is that the _only_ thing it says?"

"Yep," Ace said, pressing the elevator button. There was a faint ding and the doors slowly slid open. The girls exchanged looks before following the Sylveon into the elevator.

They started ascended toward the office, curious as to what it looked like. They peered out of the transparent walls of the elevator, looking at the structure of the jail. The rugged, craggy appearance really made it appear very precarious.

Making it to the top, the elevator opened to a wide office space. The carpet was green and felt rather coarse under their paws. There were four desks in the area, each looking particularly dusty and raggedy. The front desk was directly across from the elevator, sitting with two dead plants on either side. There was a desk against each opposing wall, and a desk against the front next to the elevator.

"Huh… bigger than the other one…" Shine commented, looking around.

Sally flipped on a light switch, only for the overhead light to flicker on and off for a few seconds before fizzling out.

"This place is probably as old as my great grandmother," Morgan responded, looking to Sally. "I don't think the light will work. Just use your tail."

Sally shrugged, lifting her tail as it illuminated. Sola approached the front desk, eyeing what all was on it. She saw that there was an old, dusty desktop sitting there, an old cup with dirt streaks on it, another cup with scissors, pencils, pens, and rulers, and a phone, which she noticed was completely clean and shiny.

She smirked to herself. "Well, what do you know, the phone looks completely clean…" the Absol said, looking it over.

"Yeah, but this place just needs a complete makeover in general…" Morgan said, blowing away a cobweb in the corner.

"Well… If we decide to do that, we might as well make this place our new meetup place," Ace suggested. "It'd be clean, we could get the computer working, clear out all of this junk, sneak some snacks and stuff up here…"

"And with the phone… we have easy access to getting laid…" Sola giggled. "Making this place even more desirable…"

"Uh… Problem with that," Sally chimed in. "Others know about the phone and they'll want to use it, too. They'll discover everything, then."

"Well, actually the only other people that are with someone not in the game right now are Aspen, Amethyst, and Ashton, and the latter two aren't really the promiscuous type," Shine explained. "I'm not really either, but if we're in the mood… That's a different story."

"So, unless Aspen remembers about the phone, we should be okay," Sola replied with a shrug. "And even if she does... She's on the other team, so she doesn't affect us."

"Well, we can try to clean later," Morgan said, looking around. "What do you guys want to do now?"

"We don't really have anything else to do… So we can get started around here if we want…" Ace replied.

"Hmm… I guess so," Morgan replied, looking around.

Sally sighed, staring at the filing cabinets on the side, "This is going to be a long day…"

 **000**

Kojo, Summer, Klavier, Holly, and Phill were sitting inside of the stadium. It resembled a colosseum on the inside, just like the previous stadium, so nothing really changed.

The couples were on the bottom level, sitting on a red and white checkered blanket. There was a woven picnic basket next to them, giving a clue as to what they were doing. It was pretty easy to get the girls onboard, despite what Klavier felt, so the were having their double date. With Phill simply monitoring them out of complete boredom.

"So… What's the worst thing that's ever happened in a relationship of yours?" Holly queried, wanting to strike up a conversation. She wasn't _that_ associated with Kojo nor Summer, so she felt a bit anxious. "I haven't had that many relationships, just two, with this one being the second one, so I can't really say…"

"Yeah, this pretty much is my first real relationship," Klavier said embarrassedly. "Well, I doubt third grade girlfriends really count anyway. It only lasted two days…"

"Oh, that's okay," Summer replied. "We've all had shitty exes and not everyone decides to form relationships. That's understandable. Anyway, uh… the worst thing? Well, one of my exes was the equivalent of a jackrabbit and only ever wanted me to cook waffles for him. And… the other was just a fling with no true connection. Plus, he was a selfish asshat who only cared about getting himself off…"

"Wow. That stinks. I'm sorry about that," Holly apologized. She and Ross didn't really have that many sexual interactions, but even then, she was glad that he didn't just use her or 'jackrabbit' when they actually did. "Even Ross put in some effort and cared about me when we did it. And we only did it like… twice throughout our entire relationship."

"Wow, no _that_ stinks," Summer replied. "How long were you two together?"

"About… four years," Holly admitted, causing everyone's eyes to widen. Seeing everyone's shocked expression, an embarrassed blush spread across her face. "What?"

"You guys were together for _four_ years… and you've only ever had sex _twice_!?" Phill exclaimed. "I mean, I know I'm a nearly forty-year-old virgin, but come on! What'd you do on the Valentine's Days? Each others' birthdays? Your anniversaries?"

"We just celebrated with friends or with each other normally," Holly expounded. "I don't know why, but sex-related talks were always kinda awkward between us, so it just barely ever happened."

"Well, maybe that'll change," Kojo said, nudging Klavier, who immediately blushed.

"Uh… We're not even a month in, yet," he responded, flustered.

"Neither are we," Summer countered, giggling as she pulled Kojo closer to her. "But, I can't keep my paws off of him. Well, other than in challenges and when we need time away from each other."

She kissed his cheek, bring a small smile to his face. He had remained quiet, not wanting to talk about Floatzelle again. Summer, Phill, and Klavier already knew, and he didn't really want to waste his breath explaining her treatment of him.

"Well, anyone hungry yet?" the Mienshao queried, opening the picnic basket and taking out a sandwich wrapped up in tinfoil.

"Yeah, I'll take one," Phill spoke up, waving his hand.

Kojo, rolling his eyes playfully, tossed one of the sandwiches to his friend. The Raticate caught it before unwrapping it.

"Uh, Phill… I don't mean to sound rude, but… Why are you here?" Holly queried.

"Oh, it doesn't sound rude," Phill replied before he took a bite of the sandwich. "It's a completely reasonable question."

As he chewed, the girls watched him in confused as the guys exchanged looks. Kojo let out a sigh. "Well, uh… Phill's here because we're some of his best and only friends and he's kind of in a gray area when it comes to his self-worth and self-confidence…"

Once Phill swallowed, he could only shrug, as Kojo was completely accurate. "Pretty much…" he drawled.

"Hmm, okay now I'm a bit curious. How did this friendship start?" Holly queried.

"Yeah, I'm a bit curious, too," Summer chimed in, folding her arms.

"Well, it's not much to really say. "Outside of the game, I was signing autographs at a mall, Phill saw me, and after I finished, we just started talking and… That was that."

"Yeah, and I started talking with Klavier a little before you guys started dating," Phill added, eyeing Kojo and Summer. "And after that… it was just solidified."

Just then, a low, growling sound was heard, making everyone look around sheepishly. "Well, _someone_ ' _s_ hungry," Klavier said before laughing sheepishly.

"Well, we have sandwiches and drinks for a reason," Kojo said, taking out another sandwich and a can of soda.

"There's soda?!" Phill exclaimed. "Why the heck did you make me bring a case of water, then?!" he pointed to a twelve-pack of bottled water.

"For you," Kojo teased. "Some of the sandwiches have Tamato Berries, and I know that you can't handle spice that well…"

"So not true!" Phill combatted. "Sure, I nearly shit myself and passed out from the Super Spicy Chalupa, but I've been better at…"

Suddenly, he felt his mouth go dry and felt waves of heat washing over his body. He twitched. "Um… I-I'll just head outside and leave you two sets of lovebirds alone," Phill said, using his tail to grab and drag the water behind him.

The four of them could only smirk at him as he left the vicinity.

 **000**

 **Holly tittered. "It was kinda fun seeing how close the three of them really are. Sure, it was supposed to just be a double date, but I had fun nonetheless."**

 **000**

" **Okay, that was actually pretty fun, I'll admit," Summer giggled. "Kojo's so cute and teasing, Klavier and Holly are pretty cool, and Phill is just… wow."**

" **I normally don't care for things like that, but I wouldn't mind doing it again."**

 **000**

" **Well, that actually went better than I thought," Klavier commented.**

 **000**

Taylor was coiled around Connor as the two lied in bed in the loser cabins. Connor let out a sigh as his and Taylor's noses touched. The two of them had been spending much more time together. They had been going on walks, swimming, picking and eating berries, staring up at the stars at night…

It was getting to a point where Connor was becoming a lot more open and Taylor was actually respecting others and trying not to anger anyone. It was a pretty remarkable shift for the both of them; they never expected any of this to happen, but it was. It was to where Taylor was gaining real _love_ for the Bash Buffalo Pokemon.

"So, are we gonna go do today?" Taylor queried with a relaxed tone, resting his head against the Bouffalant's chest.

"I dunno," he responded. "What do you _want_ to do?"

Taylor hummed. "Well, I'd say that we can… Y'know… Kiss a bit. Maybe go a bit further. But, I kinda think that we should wait since we haven't really been dating _that_ long."

"That's fine," Connor replied with a chuckle. "I'm just glad that we're together right now."

Hearing this, Taylor's heart fluttered as he leaned up and locked lips with the bovine. The Milotic's coiling grew a bit tight around the Bouffalant as he felt himself melting deeper into this kiss. Rolling over put Connor right over him, which he was completely happy with, as the kiss grew .

A few moments later, they heard knocking on the door of the cabin, causing them to end their lip-lock session. Taylor groaned. "Who the hell is that?" he groaned in annoyance.

"I'll just check it out. It can't be one of the guys since they can just walk in…" Connor explained before pecking Taylor on the lips once again, making him smile a bit.

Taylor loosened his grip on the Bouffalant, allowing him to climb off of the bed and head to the door. Opening it up, Connor was surprised to see Annie standing there. "Hi Connor," she greeted.

Still a bit surprised, the Bouffalant nodded his head in greeting. "Hey Annie. Uh, was there something that you needed from someone?"

"Actually, I just wanted to talk to _you_ ," Annie explained.

Connor was rather confused by that. The two had hardly ever interacted in the first place other than in the forest with Titan, Cramad, and Clay. But, as he thought about it, it _was_ only Annie. In addition, she was on the other team, so she couldn't really affect him that much.

"Uh… sure," Connor replied, taking a single step back. "Hold on a sec," he requested as he closed the door.

He was still a bit confused, but he walked over to Taylor in order to explain. The Milotic kissed him as soon as he walked up, bringing his tail around. "Ready to continue now~?"

He sighed. "Annie needs to talk to me about something, so… It may take a few minutes before I'm back in here."

Hearing that, Taylor grew perplexed himself. "Annie? We have an Annie?"

Connor gave him a look. "The Bellossom?" he reminded.

Hearing the species jogged Taylor's memory, as he honestly hadn't really paid attention to her at all. And it was for that reason that he did not trust it. He hummed in suspicion. "Well, that's dubious," he stated. "Have you guys ever spoken before?"

"Uh… Yeah, about once or twice, I think. But, that was before we really got together," Connor explained. "Back when I wasn't really sure if i was going to end up liking you after you started gaining feelings for me. I was all awkward and stuff and Clay wanted me to toy with you since you were beating me. Annie just said that I'm not that kind of guy."

Taylor looked down upon thinking about what he had done, he still felt awful, but then something that Connor said stood out. "Wait, Clay? You've actually spoken with that creepy weirdo?"

"He's not as creepy as he made himself out to be, surprisingly," Connor explained.

"So… You've spoken to them about our shitty relationship prior… And they pretty much hate for it, right..." Taylor trailed off.

"Yeah," the Bouffalant admitted sheepishly.

"And now, all of a sudden, after we've been together for almost a week… She wants to talk to you?" Taylor finished, having a good idea of what she was going to say.

"Yeah. it's kinda weird…" Connor replied.

"Connor, she's going to talk to you about _us_ ," Taylor deadpanned. "It's the only real reason she has if you've only ever spoken about our interactions prior."

Connor, hearing that, sighed. How could he have been so stupid? That _was_ the only logical explanation. But, he had already said yes, so he was going to still fulfill the Flower Pokemon's request. With a huff, he kissed Taylor's cheek. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think…"

Taylor gave his boyfriend a wary look before letting out his own sigh. "Fine. Just don't let her talk shit about us; both of us have actually made good progress with each other."

Connor chuckled before Taylor kissed him once again. "Be back soon," he said.

Connor nodded before heading back to the door. Once he opened the door, he caught a glimpse of Annie, who was holding a neutral expression. He glowered at the Bellossom before Connor closed the door.

 **000**

" **I swear… If that bitch touches, corrupts, or talks shit to my man, I will** _ **personally**_ **make sure that her homewrecking ass gets off of this island!" Taylor growled. "Connor's the best thing that I have right now. A guy that cares for and likes me and I love him. I've actually been feeling positive in this shitty game because of him. So, she can fuck right off!"**

 **000**

Annie ended up leading Connor to the lake, specifically where most of his early abuse took place. Connor was a bit confused as to why they needed to come to the lake. It wasn't like the conversation was going to be heard, as everyone was off doing their own things.

Soon enough, they stopped, with Annie facing the Bouffalant. "Connor, what are you _thinking_?"

"What?" Connor responded in confusion.

"You're dating your abuser! Who has a history of being a complete jackass and nearly causing someone's death in his season!" Annie exclaimed. "He's trouble! A nice guy like you does _not_ need to be with someone like that."

Connor sighed. "Annie, people can change. It's hard to believe, but it can happen. Right now, Taylor and I are trying to forge ahead and ignore the bad stuff that happened in the past. He's told me about death threats he got from what he did in his season, and how people have refuted him service because of who he was. He may have been an asshole earlier, but he was only doing it because no one cared for him anymore!"

"That's not an excuse," Annie argued. "If he was so upset, then he should have changed his attitude earlier to show that he was not a complete fucktard. But, it's too late for that. He caused you _physical_ and _emotional_ harm. That's not something you need to be with!"

"Annie, I told you guys that I didn't freaking like him earlier! Then, what Clay said came into my head and I was actually gonna try it," Connor stated. "But as time went on, I actually got to know another side of him. The _tender_ side of him! And in the end, I ended up having the same feelings toward him that he had towards me. Now we're together and you're just going to have to deal with it."

The Bouffalant began to walk away from her, making Annie rush around and get in front of him to keep him from leaving.

"Connor, listen," Annie replied. "I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but you need to think straight. Taylor is an abuser… He has nearly killed someone… He is an asshole… By being with him, you're saying that you are okay with all of that!"

"HE'S CHANGED!" Connor exclaimed in annoyance. "And for your information, he feels _awful_ about what he did to me, again, he got DEATH THREATS after that happened, and ever since we've been together, he's been toning himself down!"

"I'm just trying to look out for you-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER!" Connor exclaimed before calming himself down. Yelling wasn't going to solve anything, and he kept seeing the smaller Pokemon flinch, which made him feel bad. He let out a sigh. "Look Annie, I appreciate the concern, but I'm an adult and I can make my own decisions. I wouldn't even _consider_ Taylor as a spouse if he was still the exact same guy from his first season."

Annie understood his point of view, but she still couldn't trust or respect Taylor at all. "Okay," she replied. "I'm sorry. I just… I don't want you to get your heart broken by that j-… "

Connor gave her a look, daring her to finish that statement. Seeing that glare, Annie stopped herself. "Right… sorry."

Connor shook his head as he just walked past her. He looked back toward her, "And even if he _does_ dump me, _I_ dump _him_ , or we get into an argument or something. He's helped me get over myself and gain a bit more confidence, and that'll be what matters most."

Hearing that, Annie sighed.

 **000**

" **If we ever broke up, I'd still keep in contact with the guy," Connor replied. "I've gained more confidence because of him, and no matter what happens, I'll always be thankful for that fact."**

 **000**

" **Well, he's dead set on staying with him," Annie said, folding her arms. "I'll never understand that logic. You'd rather choose to stay in a relationship with a person who beat the shit out of you instead of leaving them and finding someone better?"**

" **Well, when Taylor crushes his heart or beats him beyond recognition out of annoyance, he'd better not come running back to me."**

 **000**

Ashton, Amethyst, Frosty, and Carson were all down at the beach, along with a few others who were enjoying their time either in the water or the sand.

Ashton lied in the sun, enjoying the heat of the beaming rays. Amethyst and Carson were busy creating a sandcastle, as neither of them cared to enter the water. Carson knew that he would just float on the surface or sink and Amethyst was afraid of drowning in general.

Frosty was underneath an umbrella, not wanting to possibly have the snow on his head melt. Normally he'd be fine out in the sun, but he was afraid that this temperature would leave him nude.

"So, Ashton, how's the married life been treating you?" Frosty queried, as the Meganium was lying next to him.

"It's been okay," Ashton replied. "Sure, there are trying times and we have disagreements that can get annoying, but in the end we still love each other."

Frosty nodded. "Nice to hear. I wish more relationships were like that. Instead of just complete friskiness and frustration, there should be understanding and open-mindedness."

"Well, not all relationships are like that," Ashton countered. "There's a combination of numerous factors that occur in a relationship and those four are some of them. There's actually more understanding and frustration rather than complete anger, too."

"Well, I guess this show is a poor reference point then, because I've only ever seen a few actually stable relationships," Frosty explained. "Usually there's more sex, more annoyance and anger, and less simplicity. Just sex at any given moment a few weeks in."

"Well, I believe I know the reason behind that," Ashton replied, eyeing Amethyst and Carson, who were still building their castle.

"Is it hormones?"

"Hmm… Yes and no," Ashton replied. "You see, on this show, you don't really have many options on the activities that you can do. So, it makes it a bit harder to have more fun and get to know someone other than my speaking with them or trying to have fun with the cards that you're dealt."

"So, wait, people have sex quickly because they're bored pretty much?" Frosty queried, confused.

Ashton giggled, shaking her head. "No. Again, not all relationships are like that. In some cases, maybe, but some of the others may just use it as a means to establish a better connection."

"But… Can't they just talk more and make things up to do for fun?" Frosty countered. "I mean, sex a couple of weeks or _days_ in? That's kind of extreme. There's a chance of pregnancy or STDs… And if it's to establish more of a connection, that'll be a hell of a connection to have…"

Ashton sighed. "Maybe I should explain this better," she said, turning to him. "In a nutshell, people do whatever they want to do when it comes to relationships. All relationships are different. Some rely on sex for entertainment, others see it as a representation of how much they love another person, others see it as a means to just get free sex, and some couples don't even have sex often. Relationship paces are also different. Some people move too fast, some move too slow, and some actually give each other time to get accustomed. It's all different based on who is who."

Frosty nodded in understanding. "Cool."

"And… Done!" the two of them heard as they turned and saw Amethyst and Carson's castle. It was about as tall as Amethyst and it looked properly structured like an actual castle.

"Wow, nice work guys," Ashton remarked, seeing it.

"Thanks," Carson responded. "It took a while, but we did it," he said, with Amethyst nodding in agreement.

"You'd better hope it doesn't turn into a Palossand," Frosty teased.

"And… Now I'm afraid," Carson said, looking back at the castle warily before he and Amethyst took a few steps away from it.

Frosty chortled, while Ashton just shook her head playfully.

 **000**

Aura and Aspen were walking to the showers, having been swimming in the water for a while. The saltwater was irritating their fur a bit, so they needed to clean it off.

"I haven't been this wet since Dominic and I had sex in our pool," Aspen joked as she and the shiny Glaceon headed to the washrooms.

Aura giggled upon hearing that. "In the pool? Isn't he a fire-type?"

"They actually have spray that you can buy so that fire-types can swim and be in water in general without worry," Aspen explained.

"Wow. That's sexy," Aura replied. "I still need to find another guy. Hopefully one that's as good as yours…"

"Aww… I'm flattered, but everyone has issues, so-" Just as she was about to explain her thoughts, she noticed a familiar yellow figure trekking into the forest. Her eyelids lowered in a glare toward it.

Seeing this change in demeanor, Aura rose a brow. "What's wrong?"

"Pia…" the Furfrou replied, turning back to her as the Hypno disappeared from view. "I'm tired of her bullshit. She's always trying to make us feel like shit and like we won't be able to do anything! Aren't _you_ getting sick of her?"

"Yeah. I've just been trying to ignore her as much as possible lately," Aura replied. "Whenever she starts talking, I get annoyed now."

"As you should be…" Aspen replied. "I think we should follow her; see what she's up to…"

Aura let out a sigh; she _really_ wanted to just shower. But, there was a high chance that they could find something to use against her, which would ultimately get her off of their backs.

"Yeah… Maybe if she's doing something bad, we can tell the others and get rid of her," Aura responded.

Aspen nodded before the two of them headed in the same direction that Pia went.

 **-000-**

Pia entered Brian's lair, expecting to see him working on another invention. However, much to her surprise, when she entered, he was mixing chemicals, with Freezeo inspected over his shoulder. She knocked on the wall, getting the pair's attention, as they looked up.

"Hey Pia," Freezeo greeted.

Pia only waved before folding her arms. "Uh… What's going on here?"

"Brian's trying to make a stink bomb or something," Freezeo explained as the Reuniclus continued working, mixing chemicals and other disgusting substances.

"And… What is the point of this?" Pia queried, standing in front of Brian.

Brian chortled maniacally to himself. "I will be able to use this substance for personal use. Whenever I want to use something occupied or cause chaos, I will simply use this and victory and amusement shall be mine!"

"Or you could use it to help the _team_ …" Pia replied, facepalming. "Seriously, think with your head!"

"Speaking of the team, are we still going to try to get rid of Aspen and Aura?" Freezeo queried.

"We'll get rid of them whenever we lose another challenge, indefinitely," Pia explained. "The two of them have slowly faded into obscurity, so all we'd have to do is convince the team, which will be easy."

"How are you so sure?" he queried.

"Because, seriously… Who in their right mind even considers those two annoying skanks worthy competitors?" Pia queried. "One is a homewrecking rapist and the other is just the bitch for the sake of it…"

"But that was years ago. I'm pretty sure almost everyone has gotten over it by now."

"That doesn't mean anything. They're still valid reasons, as well as their uselessness," Pia responded, rolling her eyes. "Remember, people around here mostly think and vote based on emotion alone. Sometimes it's actual strategy, but bias and emotion take over most of the time. Hell, the other team decided to eliminate Egridos, and he was their only ghost-type, _and_ he knew his way around that high school."

"But, they still have Carson. Isn't having a psychic-type just as good as having a ghost-type?"

"Freezeo, the main point is that it'll be easy as fuck to get rid of those two because no one even cares about them," Pia simplified, not wanting to continue the conversation. "Simple. So let's just drop it."

"Got it," Freezeo nodded.

"Now Brian-"

 **-000-**

Aspen and Aura, who were outside of the cave, glared before exchanging looks and rushing away from the vicinity.

 **000**

" **That fucking bitch has been planning on getting rid of us this entire time, huh?" Aspen growled. "Well, she'd got another thing coming. That dumb alliance of hers will be nullified before she even has a chance to realize!"**

 **000**

" **Now I get her little game," Aura stated. "She was trying to make me overthink things… Well fuck her and her little alliance."**

 **000**

"Contestants! Report back to the beach for today's challenge!" Victini exclaimed over the loudspeaker before ringing a few bells.

 **000**

A fair amount of the contestants returned to the beach, where a few of the contestants remained, specifically Amethyst, Carson, Ashton, Frosty, Dhaunt, and Marion.

Upon returning to the beach, the contestants did not see anything there. This disgruntled them, making them exchange looks.

"Alright, we're here. Where the hell are they?" Morgan queried, looking around.

"Well, the fucks _are_ usually a couple of minutes late, which doesn't make any logical sense since he _just_ called us down here a few minutes ago," Lassie replied, folding her arms.

"Should we follow the trail of Christmas lights?" Carson queried, noticing a trail of small light bulbs leading away from the area that they were sitting.

"Uh… Where the heck did those things come from?" Dhaunt queried. "They weren't there before."

"They probably knew that we'd come to this part of the beach and threw us a bone," Anthony commented with a shrug.

"Let's just go," Holly said as she started flying in the direction that the lights were leading.

The others began following the lights as well, still perplexed as to why Christmas lights were used. As they continued walking, the bright sun still beaming down, a faint breeze suddenly wafted through the air. Eventually, they all felt a chilling breeze overcome them, even with the harsh sunlight washing over them.

"What the hell is going-" Taylor started before stopping mid-sentence.

They all looked forward and saw an enormous Christmas tree sitting in the middle of the beach. Along with _that_ out of place object, the contestants were also stupefied at the fact that they saw snow on the ground, replacing the sand. Soon enough, the sun started to set in an inexplicably quick manner, similar to a time lapse, causing the temperature to drop and light to fade.

Near the tree, they spied two figures, specifically the hosts. They began walking up, completely in awe at the scene presented before them. Approaching the hosts, Victini was the first to greet them.

"Hello! And welcome to the scene of your next challenge!" he welcomed.

"Let me guess. It deals with… _Christmas_?" Sola commented, giving him a look.

"No, it deals with Hanukkah…" Victini replied sarcastically, folding his arms.

"Why the hell are you doing Christmas shit in the middle of summer?" Sally asked, folding her arms.

"Ever heard of Christmas in July?" Victini responded.

"It's June…" Marie deadpanned.

"ANYWAYS," Victini replied, wanting to move on from the conversation. "Your challenge today is pretty simple. You guys are going to go…"

The Victory Pokemon floated behind the tree before coming back with fishing poles in his hands. "...Fishing!"

"Fishing? Really?" Ace drawled.

"Yep," Victini responded with a chipper tone, dropping the poles. "You guys will be fishing for Magikarp and Feebas. We have placed these chips in their mouths."

He held up two poker chips. One was white, the other red. There was also a number on each.

"Once you catch a Feebas or Magikarp, you must retrieve the chips from their mouths," Victini explained. "Now, there are approximately thirty of them in all, and whatever numbers you get will correspond to the presents that you receive from under the tree."

The contestants gazed over to the trees and saw numerous presents sitting underneath them.

"Each present contains a surprise, some good, some bad," Victini explained. "The team that gets more _good_ presents will win this challenge. So, this will be all about luck."

Everyone gave him a look of agitation.

"And, before you bitch and moan about how there are so many of you and it'll be pointless for all of you to just sit around and relax, I've got you covered," Victini continued, making the contestants exchange looks of bemusement.

Soon enough, overlapping exclamations of protest was emitted from the group. Victini teleported the bullhorn into his hand before pressing the button, causing a blaring sound to come from it. Everyone immediately quieted down, some covering their ears in the process.

"That's better," Victini stated. "Now, let me continue. Only half of you from each team will be competing in _this_ challenge. The other half of you will be going with Mew, who will be watching over you guys' second challenge."

"Which is?" Titan queried.

"Why would you expect me to tell you that?" Victini responded, raising a brow with a smile. "I'm not gonna let you know whether it's better _or_ worse than this challenge. Hence, why Mew doesn't even know what it is…"

The pink cat only rolled his eyes in annoyance, already having a feeling that the challenge was going to be worse.

"So, choose which players will be doing which challenge, and we'll begin," Victini said with a smug smirk as the contestants all glared at him before separating into their teams.

 **000**

"Okay, who does what?" Summer queried. "We know what one challenge is, but the other is up in the air."

"Well, fishing is more of a man's sport, so why don't we have the guys handle this and the rest of us handle the second challenge," Marion suggested. "It couldn't be that bad could it?"

"Oh. Sit in boredom and catch fish instead of doing a possibly dangerous second challenge?" Phill restated. "Sounds good to me."

"Okay, on second thought, how about we actually talk instead of just relying on gender roles?" Annie spoke up. "Now, there's more than likely other water-types besides Magikarp and Feebas out in the water, so I think we need to have some of us that are actually effective against them to stay for the fishing challenge."

"So, you, Cramad, and Titan will be good here," Marie reasoned.

"I volunteer to stay as well," Phill commented, raising a paw.

"No. You can do more and we know it," Summer commented, giving a him a look, making the Raticate groan.

"Fez hasn't done much of anything lately since Sabrina's elimination," Pia spoke up.

"Hey!"

"Hey what? She's telling the truth," Lassie defended. "You've literally just stood around doing nothing useful in challenges."

"And what have _you_ done exactly?" the Unfezant countered.

"We don't have time for this conversation!" Anthony exclaimed. "Let's focus on the challenge at hand, alright!?"

"Thank you, Anthony…" Marie replied, glad that he brought the main focus back. "Now, we've already got Cramad, Titan, and Annie doing fishing. We still need at least five or six more to stay behind and Pia brings up a good point about Fez, so he'll be staying behind as well."

"And how do you expect me to hold the rod? With my feet?" Fez replied. "If anything, Marion, Dhaunt, Brian, and Freezeo should stay behind. At least they'd be able to do it."

"Eh, it'd be fine by me," Dhaunt replied. "Fishing isn't that big of a deal."

"Alright, so that's seven," Marie realized. "There's seventeen of us, so let's have at least two more people stay for the first challenge."

"Perfect number," Pia commented. "Aura and Aspen will be great."

"What!?" Aspen barked. "You can't just-"

"Alright, it's settled. Marion, Dhaunt, Brian, Freezeo, Aspen, Aura, Cramad, Annie, and Titan," Marie finalized. "We're gonna be counting on you guys to reel in a good amount of fish for us."

Aura and Aspen glared daggers at Pia, who only smirked back.

 **000**

" **Get** _ **all**_ **of the fodder together, excluding Freezeo and Brian. That way, if we lose, it's a pretty easy choice since any one of them can be blamed," Pia explained.**

 **000**

"Okay, Kojo, Sally you two seem to be the only ones here with functioning hands, so maybe you guys should stay for the fishing," Morgan suggested.

"But what if the other challenge requires it as well?" Kojo protested. "If that's the case, maybe Sally should be the one to stay since she's the electric-type."

Sally shrugged. "That's fine with me. Rather go with the known than the _unknown_."

"Okay," Morgan said with a nod. "So that's one."

"And since there are only thirteen of us left, we'll need to make sure that we have an even chance. So, we'll need at least five more people to fish," Shine reasoned.

"Oh, well we can stay behind if you guys want," Ashton offered. "There's five of us, so…"

"Yeah, it's no big deal," Holly added.

"That is very nice, but I worry that you guys won't be that successful," Morgan remarked. "No offense, of course."

"We'll be okay. Don't worry," Ashton reassured.

The Persian hummed. "Hmm… Okay, we'll take your word for it."

"So I guess that means the rest of us are stuck doing whatever the second challenge is," Connor chimed in, not particularly amused.

"Yep," Sola replied.

"As long as it's not fishing, I'm fine with it," Ace stated.

 **000**

"Alright, everyone that is going fishing, stay here. The rest of you, follow Mew to the gazebo," Victini instructed.

Everyone split off into their separate groups Holly. Those following Mew included: Fez, Pia, Klavier, Phill, Lassie, Marie, Anthony, and Summer from the Ho-Ohs, and Ace, Shine, Sola, Morgan, Kojo, Connor, and Taylor from the Lugias. Leaving the remaining fifteen contestants to stay behind with Victini.

"Alright, your challenge shall begin now," Victini stated, floating over to a lawnchair. "There are rods next to the tree, so go ahead and start catching. And be careful, there's a LOT more than just Magikarp and Feebas in there."

Everyone left behind exchanged looks of annoyance.

 **000**

Mew led the group toward the gazebo. On the way there, Ace decided to try and talk to Mew, as he looked extremely agitated and stressed. The others noticed that his appearance was slowly deteriorating. His fur wasn't as sleek as it used to be, instead it was more wild. He had also remained completely silent during Victini's explanation, which was becoming a common occurrence.

"Uh… Are you okay, Mew?" Ace queried. "You look… bad."

"Thanks. I _really_ needed to hear that today," Mew retorted.

"What's the matter?" asked Phill.

"Do you guys really care or are you trying to preoccupy me?"

"Does it matter? You look awful…" Anthony said bluntly. "Just talk and float…"

Mew huffed. "Well, let's review. I'm stuck hosting these competitions that do the same exact thing every time, the challenges have gotten either boring, insane, and dreadful, Victini's a dick, I know you guys all resent me, I've been having migraines, and a couple of days ago, I tried to ask out Shaymin, but she said that she still preferred Victini and that I was pretty boring, without offense…"

Everyone was surprised to hear all of that come from him. Some felt bad, while others had no opinion, as he was the one who started the series to begin with.

"So yeah. I'm feeling pretty shitty right now…" he stated as they eventually reached the gazebo, where two large, rectangular tanks, covered by black tarps sat atop the tables.

Mew approached the first table, where he saw a slip of paper. Looking over it, Mew rolled his eyes. "Alright, here _you_ guys' challenge," he said as Zahku, who was sitting on the far side of the tables, stood up.

The contestants all gathered inside of the gazebo, separating themselves into their two teams. Mew let out a sigh. "Zahku?"

The Hariyama removed the tarps from both tanks, revealing the contents, which made the contestants gag and stare in shock. There were slimy, serpent-like items inside of the tanks, with some of the slime oozing off of the sides.

The smell that wafted through the air was so pungent that one's nose hairs could fizzle off with a single wiff. Some of the contestants had to resist the urge to vomit just from the smell and sight. Mew could only shook his head in a disapproval. However, as he recalled the amount of time that he's spent with these contestants, he knew that they'd been through _much_ worse, so his worry left immediately.

He looked at the the paper in his hands. "So apparently, these tanks are full of assorted guts from different fish Pokemon, including Lumineon, Alomomola, Relicanth, Luvdisc, Huntail… you get it," Mew finished, not wanting to read the entire list of Pokemon used.

"I swear, Victini gets sicker and sicker with each passing day," Kojo commented, shaking his head.

"Yeah, try living with him and people similar to him…" Mew responded tonelessly. "Now, according to what he's printed on presumably _my_ computer paper, there are numerous ornaments inside of the tanks, and you guys' team goals are to collect the most. It will be a race, with one person from each team competing to retrieve the most ornaments."

"So… We _really_ have to dig inside of this dreck?!" Taylor bellowed.

"Actually, according to this, you guys are only permitted to use your mouths," Mew deadpanned, glancing back up at them from the paper.

"WHAT?!" A good amount of the players exclaimed.

"Okay, Victini is out of his fucking mind!" Fez exclaimed. "There's no way I'm putting my mouth into that tank!"

"Well, considering that you guys' team has eight players to their seven here, one of you may be sitting out anyways," Mew explained. "But, then again, you guys will have to discuss that."

"What are the rules?" Connor queried.

"Well, apparently there will be eight rounds, given that the highest number of players here is eight," Mew began explaining after looking back over the paper, which had _all_ of the instructions. "Each team will send one player to dive into the guts and retrieve as many ornaments as they can within three minutes."

"Three… minutes… in _that_?!" Ace exclaimed.

Mew nodded before he continued, "The player that collects the most ornaments after each round earns a point for their team. At the end, whichever team has the most wins will have the opportunity to choose three more presents for their team, as well as three presents for the other team."

"Wait, so this challenge is just so that we can help in the final tally?" Marie asked, a bit peeved.

"Pretty much," Mew said.

"Victini needs to fucking choke on a dick and fucking die…" Morgan grumbled to herself.

"Now, you guys choose the order you're gonna go in and-"

"Wait! We have one player less than them, does that mean that one of us has to go _twice_!?" Sola bellowed.

Mew let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes… So, choose wisely. Once you make the order, you can't break it..."

The Lugias exchanged unnerved looks, while the Ho-Ohs still held their annoyed expressions.

 **000**

Dhaunt and Marion sat at the beach, each of them holding their own fishing rod. Dhaunt, having been Egridos' friend, was a tad bit upset by his elimination, but he understood why he needed to go. As he sat in the cold snow, his line already cast, he glanced around, looking at what the others were doing.

Aura and Aspen were walking around, Brian and Freezeo were nowhere to be seen, and Annie, Titan, and Cramad were further away, but still fishing like he and Marion were.

He let out a sigh as he sat, a firm grip on his fishing pole. "The most boring challenge ever conceived. How wonderful."

"Well, I'll take boredom over embarrassment and pain any day," Marion said, attempting to brighten his mood. "Plus, it looks like you've got a bite-"

Dhaunt looked back out at sea, and saw his line bobbing up and down. Gasping, he swiftly began reeling it in. Once it was at the shore and they saw what it was, Dhaunt groaned.

He had reeled in a Wishiwashi. "Puny little fish," he stated, tossing it back into the water.

He cast his line forward again as Marion simply watched her fishing rod, which she had propped up with rocks surrounding it.

Soon enough, she saw her line begin to be tugged ever so slightly, urging her to hurry over and reel in whatever it was. As she pulled and winded, she felt that the Pokemon on the other end was a bit heavier than she thought.

With a final tug, she reeled in a green fish, which immediately growled upon being brought out of the water. "A Basculin…. Great."

Marion attempted to get the Basculin off of her line, but it remained stable. Marion groaned, using Will-O-Wisp, burning the Basculin, causing it to shout in pain and release the end.

She watched as the Basculin flopped back into the water, casting her line once again and resting the rod back into the rocks.

"Well, looks like there's gonna be a lot of rinsing and repeating here," Dhaunt tonelessly stated. "And he most likely made the Magikarp and Feebas hard to find…"

"Well, the saying _is_ that patience is a virtue," Marion said.

"And you should know by now that I hate waiting in long intervals," Dhaunt replied before feeling his rod be tugged once again. He quickly reeled it in once more, only for it to be _another_ Wishiwashi. He groaned, tossing the Wishiwashi back into the water.

"Well, while we're here, maybe we should start talking strategy," Marion commented, sitting in the snow next to him.

"We have an alliance with Lassie already. I think we'll be fine…" Dhaunt commented.

"Lassie doesn't really seem to be that concerned about us," Marion commented. "So, I think another alliance is in order."

Dhaunt was a bit taken aback by his wife's sudden need for security. The two of them were in perfect floating territory; why should they worry?

"Marion, honey, I don't think that's necessary," Dhaunt said. "The team barely recognizes us for anything. I think we're at a safe place at the moment…"

"Dhaunt, I love you, but you need to listen to reason," Marion replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The team is full of strong and useful players. If we lose, it's pretty easy to see who may be getting the boot."

"Yes. Aura, Aspen, Klavier, Phill, Annie, Lassie, Titan, Cramad, Freezeo, Brian, Fez. There are plenty of choices," Dhaunt explained. "However, looking at the number of players that have barely contributed anything, we outnumber the strong guys, so we have nothing to really worry about unless the big guys actually have a reason to target us in specific."

"Okay, you have a point there, but it still isn't good if the others are justifiable," Marion replied. "Usually the future is brought up as a means for justification and-"

"There are three ice-types and three ghost-types. And ghost-types are more useful, so we don't need to worry," Dhaunt replied. "Just calm down. We may last longer doing hardly anything than we would by being try-hards..."

Marion let out a sigh. "Fine…"

"Atta girl…" Dhaunt replied, patting her back before feeling another tug on his rod, a much _stronger_ tug.

He grunted as he pulled on his rod, reeling in whatever was on the opposite end. Eventually, the Pokemon was pulled out. A Sharpedo.

The Brutal Pokemon launched itself out of the water, heading down toward the two of them.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

 **000**

Sally sat in the fresh, white powder, holding her rod firmly with an agitated look on her face. This challenge was probably the most boring one she had ever participated in. But, due to being alone at the moment, at least in her head, she felt that she had some thinking to do.

" _Okay, so you've got great allies and friends. You've gotta make sure that they stick around for a while, at least until the merge,"_ Sally thought to herself. " _We've got thirteen player left on the team, and a fair amount of them are either strong or usable in some way. The rest… we'll have to weed them out. So, Holly, Frosty, Carson, and Connor will need to go soon."_

"You okay Sally?" the Ampharos heard, snapping her out of her thoughts. Looking around, she saw that Holly was standing beside her.

"Oh, hey Holly. And, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking…" the electric-type replied. She gazed back at the Swoobat in realization. "Where's your rod? Shouldn't you be helping out?"

"Oh, Carson's got all of the rods set up so that all we have to do is wait for a bite. Then we just throw it back, force it back, or keep it," Holly explained, gesturing to five fishing rods that were sitting in the snow, each of their lines cast out into the water.

Sally blinked in surprise. She honestly never considered any of the people from the fourth season as worthy competitors other than a select few like Nate, Sky, and… _Aylesha_. The Ampharos just growled to herself thinking about the Breloom. But, then again, she hadn't really been a worthy competitor at all throughout her time on the show. This was probably her first actual time playing the game instead of relying on Jet for support. "Huh. That's a neat trick."

"Yeah. And the best part is, it gives us a bit of training," Holly said.

The Ampharos rose a brow upon hearing that. "How so?"

"Well, it's still a battle if we want it to be," Holly explained. "Uh… If you want, we can have Carson get your rod as well. We're just gonna relax and wait until we get bites."

"Uh… Alright," Sally replied, handing her rod to the bat before getting to her feet.

She walked over to the group, who were all just sitting near the fishing rods. There seemed to be a game going on, as there was writing in the snow. It consisted of a hanging figure with numerous blanks underneath it. As Sally approached, the others watched as she moved around the marked area of the ground.

"Hello," she greeted sheepishly. She hardly ever talked to these people, so she had no clue about how they really were. Sure, they were all seemingly nice, but that could all be a facade. This game taught her that.

"Hi," Amethyst greeted, followed by others, who either nodded in greeting or verbalized it.

She cleared her throat. "So, what are you guys doing?"

"Playing Hangmon," Frosty responded. "It's better than just staying in one place and Carson has it rigged for us."

Suddenly, one of the rods began to pull forward as Holly set Sally's up next to the rest. Carson floated over, feeling resistance, and forcefully yanked whatever what was on the other end toward the shore.

What flew out was an all-too familiar red fish, as it landed right next to Sally, who grunted and rubbed the side of her head. "OW!"

"Oops, sorry!" Carson called over.

Sally rolled her eyes. As she grabbed hold of the flopping fish. "Ashton? Can you get the chip?"

"Uh… Sure," the Meganium replied as she inserted one of her vines into the Magikarp's mouth. After a couple of seconds, she pulled out a small, white poker chip with the number '23' etched onto it.

"Alright, that's one chip," Sally said, dropping the Magikarp on the ground. "Now, we just have to get more of it and Feebas-"

"-And hope that the presents we get aren't that awful," Holly added, flying back over. She landed in the snow before looking back at the Hangmon marks. "Hmm… Whose turn was it?"

"Wait, what about the Magikarp?" Sally queried, pointing at the still flopping Fish Pokemon.

Suddenly, the Magikarp was enveloped in a reddish-pink aura before lifting up and 'flying' a couple of feet away from them. Sally looked at Carson as he floated over, a look of irritation was on her face.

"Was that necessary?" Sally queried. "You can Just throw it back into the water!"

"Then it has the possibility of being hooked again. A pretty low chance, but still a chance," Carson explained. "I say we just leave them there until the challenge is done so we can avoid that possibility at all costs."

Hearing that, Sally was even more surprised. That actually made sense. She really needed to stop underestimating these guys.

 **000**

" **Those guys were much smarter than I thought they were," Sally stated. "Voting is going to be tough…"**

 **000**

"Alright, the faster you guys get through this, the faster you can go shower, brush your teeth, gargle, etcetera," Mew explained. "So, send your first teammates forward."

The Lugias had decided to go with Taylor, Sola, Morgan, Connor, Shine, Ace, Kojo, and then have Connor go again. The Ho-Ohs went in the order of Phill, Klavier, Marie, Anthony, Summer, Lassie, Pia, and Fez.

Taylor sighed to himself, while Phill shrugged. The each took their places in front of the tanks. The horrid smell causing Taylor to nearly gag, while Phill, despite not liking the smell, wasn't that bothered by it.

"Alright, whoever gets the most ornaments earns a point for their team," Mew said, gesturing to Zahku, who was sitting next to a wooden board with number cards on them. 'HH' was written on the left and the 'LL' was on the right.

"Now, you may begin in three… two… one… GO!" Mew announced as he started the three minute countdown.

Immediately Phill took a breath and went head first into the tank. Seconds later, he lifted his head back up, an ornament in his mouth, as well as a few guts. He spit the ornaments and guts to the side before going right back in and grabbing hold of another one.

While Phill did this, Taylor was still hesitant. He was a water-type himself! It just didn't feel or smell right to do this. The Milotic was practically _trembling_.

"Taylor! You're losing time! Come on!" Sola exclaimed, eyeing the clock on the opposite table.

"I-I can't!" Taylor said, nearly gagging as the smell continued filling his nostrils.

On the other side, Phill was taking out his eighth ornament. Once he tossed it, he waited and panted, catching his breath.

"You're doing great, Phill. Taylor hasn't even set his face into the tank yet," Summer commented, eyeing the other team smugly.

"Mother of Arceus, this tastes like shit…" Phill said, his face completely covered in slime.

"Just get a couple more and you should be fine," Lassie said, seeing Taylor just sitting there.

Taylor swallowed, staring down at the disgusting viscera before him. The others were all glowering at him, but they could understand why he was so hesitant. Seeing his distress, Connor stood up next to them.

"Taylor, I know that you think this is horrible, but you need to do this," Connor whispered to him.

"I can't, baby…" Taylor replied, shaking his head. "I just…"

"You _can't_ or you _won't_?" Connor responded.

Taylor looked at the Bouffalant beside him, his lips quivering. Seeing this, Connor nuzzled up against him. "Babe. You need to do this or else there's a chance that _you_ might get eliminated. I'm already going twice so that you all won't have to deal with it again. I _know_ that you can do it."

Taylor's eyes glimmered. "B-But, I-"

"Taylor, we've only got a minute and thirty-nine seconds left. You _need_ to do this," Connor urged.

Taylor gave him a thoughtful look, not saying a word before leaning down and kissing him. Moments later, Taylor buried his head into the guts, making Connor take a few steps away and move back to the others. Taylor rose his head back up with his first ornament, which he promptly spit out before going back inside.

"Nice work Connor," Shine commended.

Connor nodded in response.

"Come on Phill, Taylor just started, but he's moving really fast," Klavier urged, seeing the sudden speed that Taylor was exhibiting. The Milotic had already retrieved _five_ ornaments.

Phill, who had been taking a short break, groaned to himself before burying his head back into the guts to retrieve more ornaments.

As the time continued ticking down, both Phill and Taylor were beginning to feel winded and ready to gag as the slimy taste of the entrails of the fish lingered on their tongues. Eventually, the clock reached zero.

"Stop!" Mew called, allowing both participants to move away from the tank. Both of them immediately moved away from the group in order to vomit from the rancid taste in their mouths.

 **-000-**

Once they both came back, Mew nodded. "Alright, now count up how many you have…" he instructed.

Phill and Taylor started counting how many ornaments each of them had.

"Sixteen," Phill revealed.

Taylor sighed softly in defeat. "Eleven…"

"First point: Ho-Ohs…" Mew announced.

The Ho-Ohs cheered as Zahku placed a '1' card underneath their team name.

"Now, go ahead and take a five minute break, then come back here for the next round," Mew said. "Or, if you guys just want to continue and get this shit out of the way-"

"YES!" Everyone responded in an instant.

"That's what I thought," Mew said, expecting that response. "Next players."

 **000**

Aura was lying in the snow, while Aspen held her rod awkwardly in her paws. She growled to herself as struggled to get a good grip on it. She had never finished before. She went with her boyfriend and his father sometimes, but usually she just stayed in the boat and watched them do it.

Suddenly, as she seemed to get a bite, her rod was yanked from her paws, entering the water. She stood up in huff. "Fuck this challenge! Pia totally screwed us!"

"Why do you think I'm not doing anything?" Aura replied. "That bitch is trying to get rid of us. You heard her."

"Well, we have to do _something_ ," Aspen urged. "If we lose this, Pia will get one of us eliminated!"

"Which is why…" Aura started, getting to her feet. "...we've gotta do some convincing. _But,_ we can't target Pia."

Aspen scoffed. "And why not? That bitch isn't special."

"No, she's not. But, she hasn't made any enemies, other than us, _and_ she's a psychic-type. That gives her two reasons to stay over us," Aura explained. "Plus, who the hell is going to believe _us_ over _her_?"

Hearing that, Aspen groaned to herself. "Damn it, that makes sense. No matter what we do, they probably won't trust us."

"Exactly, which is why need to aim for getting rid of either Brian or Freezeo," Aura reasoned. "And the best part is… They aren't even here, so that gives us a bigger reason."

"If we had to choose between the two, I say we lose Freezeo," Aspen suggested. "You and the ghost girl should be enough."

"Fine by me. Either way we'll be weakening her little alliance," Aura replied with a shrug. "We'll just have to talk to the others and make sure that Pia doesn't get to them first. Come on…"

Aura began walking across the snow-covered beach; Aspen followed her in slight confusion. The Glaceon walked toward Titan, Cramad, and Annie, who were further along the beach.

 **-000-**

"Ugh… This sucks!" Annie exclaimed as she sat with her rod in her hands. "My butt is cold, I'm not catching anything, and Connor won't listen to reason."

Upon hearing the last part, Cramad immediately grew interested. Titan was completely invested in fishing, so he paid the girls no attention.

"What do you mean?" the Parasect asked.

Annie shrugged, "I just talked to Connor earlier about his and Taylor's relationship."

Cramad let out a groan. "Annie, we have talked about this! You can't dictate who a grown adult can date! It's obvious that he see things in Taylor that you can't. Why don't you just leave it at that?"

"You know why!" Annie exclaimed.

"And we told you that just because it happened to you doesn't mean it'll happen to Connor!" Cramad retorted.

Annie groaned. "Like I said. He didn't listen to me anyway. No use in continuing in the conversation," she stated as she sat back down and picked up her rod.

Cramad sighed, knowing not to prod further. She just didn't understand the point of trying something when the outcome is obvious. She decided to just leave it be, as Connor apparently wasn't even affected by the discussion.

A few moments later, Aura and Aspen approached the trio. Seeing that they had absolutely no fish with them, it was pretty obvious how things were going for them, so they avoided that greeting.

"Hey guys," Aura greeted, causing only Cramad and Annie to acknowledge them. Titan just continued to watch his rod, which was securely locked between his pedipalps.

"What do you two want?" Annie asked brashly, not really in the mood anymore.

"Jeez, calm down. We're gonna here to do anything to you. We're on the same team," Aspen defended, hearing her harsh tone of voice.

"We're only here to ask you all to help us vote out Freezeo if we lose this challenge," Aura explained.

Cramad rose a brow before looking back at the others and back to the two females. "Uh, no offense. But why would we get rid of _him_ over one of you?"

"Because he hasn't been doing anything of significance! At least we've been trying! He just floats there most of the time!" Aura explained. "And we literally haven't been bothering _anybody_ , so we have more of a reason to stay."

"Hmm… That's true, but what will you gain from his elimination in specific?" Annie asked, suspicious of their motives. This seemed _way_ too out of the blue.

"What? There are three ice-types on this team. And unlike Freezeo, Lassie and I are actually contributing or _trying_ to contribute. Freezeo doesn't do jack shit. It'll be the best thing for the team."

"Uh huh, yeah. Sure…" Annie replied, rolling her eyes.

"Actually Annie, they're not wrong in that case," Cramad spoke up. "Freezeo _is_ one of the most useless players on the team right now. Losing him wouldn't be that bad of an idea…"

"Whatever…" Annie grumbled.

"Titan?" Cramad queried before looking over and seeing that the Galvantula was not in his original space. She grew confused. "Uh…"

A few moments later, Titan emerged from the water, dragging a yellow 'net' with two unconscious Magikarp, a Feebas, and two Luvdisc inside. Water dripped from his furry body as he released his net and collapsed on the cold ground, panting.

"Mother of Arceus, this sucks…" he groaned.

"No one told you to go in the water, Titan," Annie said, walking over to his net. "But, good job getting these guys for us."

"So cold…" the Galvantula shivered.

Aura and Cramad immediately looked to Aspen, who looked back in confusion. "What?"

 **-000-**

Aspen was lying over the Galvantula, a blush over her face. "This is uncomfortable on numerous levels," she muttered, with Aura and Cramad on either side of the EleSpider Pokemon, keeping him warm as well.

"And… We've got numbers 10, 21, and 7," Annie said, walking up with the poker chips, two red and one white.

"Great!" Cramad exclaimed. "Nice work, honey."

Titan only groaned in response.

 **000**

A Wailmer ended up being reeled in for the Lugias, causing them to groan as Carson tossed the Ball Whale Pokemon back into the ocean.

"I knew there was a reason I never went fishing with my dad…" Frosty commented. "This is boring as all heck…"

"Well, we can play another round of Hangmon if we want…" Amethyst suggested, earning her a look from Sally. She didn't notice it, though.

"Nah, I think we've played that enough," Holly said. "We can… _talk_ if you guys want to."

"Well, it's either that or sit in silence, so have at it," Carson spoke up, still watching the fishing rods.

They all exchanged looks, with Sally just sitting against a rock with her arms folded. She didn't feel like she was required to share anything, so she decided to just listen.

"So… Holly, how was the double date?" Ashton queried. Holly had told them about the date plan beforehand, so it seemed like perfect time to ask.

"It was fun, actually. The others were pretty nice and we talked about some things that we had in common," Holly explained.

"Well, that's good to hear," Ashton said.

"How was Klavier? Was he still kinda timid and nervous?" Frosty queried.

"Sort of, but he was with his best friends, so he slowly adjusted," Holly explained. "It was so cute. And Summer and Kojo's connection is really commendable. You'd think that they'd been dating for years with how they speak and act toward each other."

"How do they act?" Amethyst queried.

Holly hummed. "It's kind of hard to explain. But, essentially they haven't been dating long, and yet they give off a vibe like… they have a lot of experience and they've been together for years…"

"Huh, that's nice. But also kinda weird…" Carson spoke.

"Well, we're all grown adults. I would think that we all know how relationships work," Sally chimed in. "If they're acting that way, that just means that they have a good relationship so far. Nothing more, nothing less. They understand each other's feelings, accept each others' flaws…"

"That's why I think it's weird. Isn't it a bit too fast? I mean, some people here claim that they love others after just a few days of dating or interacting…" Carson spoke.

"That what I was saying earlier," Frosty added. "Some relationships formed here were more focused on the sex than the actual relationship. At least in my eyes…"

"Frosty… There are very few people here that have their spouses with them. Myself included," Sally started. "And the ones that are in relationships that _are_ here don't even have sex. At most they just make out. And even if our spouses _were_ here, we could have sex whenever. They did it in the All-Stars season, so why does it matter?"

"Hey, I haven't been in a relationship at all throughout this entire time," Frosty replied. "I'm just going off what I've seen and my own opinions. All I'm saying is that I think some of the relationships here only formed because of appearance and possible sex partners. _Then_ the actual 'relationship' aspect started to kick in."

Sally facepalmed, as Ashton let out a sigh. She thought that they had talked about this already. Amethyst and Holly just remained silent, not wanting to be involved, and Carson just continued watching the rods, but still listened intently.

"Frosty, I hope you don't find this rude, but if you haven't been in a relationship, why are you suddenly talking about what others do in theirs?" Ashton queried.

"It's just a conversation starter, to me," Frosty said nonchalantly, not feeling like anything was wrong. "I'm not against anyone's relationship. I wish them all the best. It's just an observation I had."

"Well, we were stupid, horny teenagers at the start of this game, so of course our relationship skills were going to be bad," Sally explained. "We've grown ups now and we're all either single, or with the person we want to be with. End of story."

"Um…. Okay?" Frosty replied, feeling a bit of hostility from the Ampharos.

There was silence after the Snowstorm Pokemon ended the conversation. Tension lingered in the air as Sally rose up and walked toward the fishing rods, taking a seat next to them.

"Uh…. Maybe continuing Hangmon wasn't that bad of an idea, after all," Holly said sheepishly.

 **000**

" **I hope that I didn't offend anyone. I mean, what I said is true…" Frosty said. "I never said it was a bad thing, did I? Wait… Did I?"**

 **000**

Sola and Klavier were each at the tanks, their eyes wide with worry and disgust at the entrails before them.

"How the hell does Victini come up with this stuff?" Klavier queried.

"He binge watches Fear Factor, Survivor, horror movies, and other legendaries' shows and usually rips them off or spins things around to suit the show…" Mew explained with a shrug.

"Huh. That actually explains a lot," Morgan opined.

"Does it?" Kojo replied tonelessly.

"Now, let's get the second round started," Mew said. "Klavier, Sola, you guys ready?"

"Not really, no," Sola replied. "But, I'll get this over with."

"Same…" Klavier groaned.

"Alright. In three… two… one… GO!"

Both of the timers began counting down as both Klavier and Sola started digging through the tanks with their mouths. Sola moved her head around in the tank in order to move the guts around and have a clear view of the ornaments. Her strategy was working, allowing her to take out four ornaments with relative ease.

Klavier, on the other hand, had a tough time getting ornaments in his mouth, as all he could taste was the revolting slime emanating from the guts. He gagged and drooled each and every time the taste hit his tongue and the scent filled his nostrils.

"Arceus, I can't do this…" he strained as he continued to gag. Eventually, he flew away, retching into the nearby bushes, causing the Ho-Ohs to groan.

"Klavier! Dude, come on! It's bad, but elimination would be… Actually _good_ at this point, but _still_!" Phill called.

Sola continued moving, closing her eyes and holding her breath as she started throwing guts out of the tank in order to make access to the ornaments even easier. She moved her mouth around, feeling around for the metallic baubles.

She continued tossing them out. Once she felt that she held a good enough lead, like Phill, she sat back and took a breather. "How many is that?" she said through sharp breaths.

"Uh… it looks like eleven," Shine said, looking over the baubles rolling on the ground and table.

Sola nodded before lying down before gagging a bit. She walked over and spit into the bushes before coming back, the clock continuing to tick down from forty-five seconds.

"KLAVIER! You only have less than fifty seconds! Bring your ass back here!" Lassie called out.

Merely seconds later, the Gliscor returned, groaning. "I can't do this… I just can't…"

"I think that was pretty obvious considering you spent most of the time yakking up your breakfast," Anthony commented, folding his arms. "Might as well just give them the point…"

Mew stopped the clocks and nodded to Zahku, who placed a number card under the Lugias' name.

"We got a point? Hooray…" Sola groaned.

"You okay, Sola?" Connor queried.

Immediately, the Absol dashed toward the foliage, feeling ready to throw up. Hearing her vomiting sounds, the others knew the answer to the question.

"Alright, two rounds down, six more to go," Mew reminded.

Nearly everyone groaned, which Mew expected. This was going to be a _long_ rest of the day.

 **000**

"I still don't see how it went from morning to almost sunset in the blink of an eye," Dhaunt commented, looking at the orangish-purple sky.

"It's called being a psychic-type and wanting ambiance," Victini chimed in, having heard his complaint. "Deal with it…"

"Alright, alright, geez…" Dhaunt responded, turning back to the ocean with his rod. He and Marion had to fight off the Sharpedo before tossing it back into the water, he ended up catching a _Stunfisk_ of all things, and a Gorebyss tried to impale him, but he knocked it back with a Shadow Ball. Or rather, Marion did.

Marion wasn't really concerned about the challenge, instead she was playing in the snow. After creating a snowman, she sighed, popping her back. She moved the snowman toward the shore before picking up her fishing rod.

She cast it out into the sea before embedding the handle into the snowman's middle section. She dusted off her hands before turning to Dhaunt, only to see him giving her a perplexing look.

"Uh… Mind telling me what the plan is?" the Gengar queried, raising a brow.

"Huh? Oh there's no plan. Just wanted to do this," Marion replied. "Nothing wrong but just a bit of harmless fun. Plus, if it gets a bite, I can use kinesis to yank whatever it is out of the water."

"Well hopefully it's a Magikarp or Feebas, because my luck has been shit…" Dhaunt commented as he reeled in a Tynamo, which immediately used Thunder Wave, paralyzing the Shadow Pokemon as it floated back into the water.

Marion sighed after seeing that. She walked over to him, shaking her head. "Sadly, I can see that."

Dhaunt only groaned as the Banette helped sit him up. "Maybe we should move spots. Everyone else is further down and seem to be doing decently."

"Whatever…" the Gengar groaned.

 **000**

Brian and Freezeo were in the Reuniclus' lair, with Brian welding together a couple of pieces of metal as Freezeo watched in confusion. "Uh… Brian? You're a psychic-type. Why're you using a welder?"

"It is practical of course!" Brian replied as he finished welding, removing his mask. He picked up his new invention, a modified fishing pole. "Behold! The Reel Jet 400!"

"Uh… What happened to the other 399?" Freezeo queried.

Brian huffed. "It's for dramatic effect. Jeez! With this, I will be able to catch whatever fish Pokemon bites onto it and make it a minion for myself!"

"Huh. That's interesting," Freezeo said. "But won't it be a bit hard since it needs to live in the water to survive?"

"I will create a fish tank for it. I'm not stupid, fool," Brian replied. "Now, come with me. We must return to the snow beach."

The Multiplying Pokemon started floated out of his cave, with Freezeo following close behind.

 **000**

 **Freezeo sighed. "No comment…"**

 **000**

The duo made it back to the beach, where they saw that a good majority of the others were on a specific end of the beach, while the other end was pretty much abandoned.

"Huh. Weird…" Freezeo said, floating to the abandoned end of the beach with Brian.

"Now, watch and be amazed," Brian said as they reached the shore. He extended his rod and cast his line out to sea.

Ten minutes passed by, with Freezeo yawning as the eleven minute mark hit. "I don't see how people can fish. This is the most boring thing that I've ever experienced on this show…"

"Hush, cretin!" Brian exclaimed, startling Freezeo. "You must be patient."

Freezeo gave him a look. " _This is going to be a long day…_ "

 **000**

The next round had already begun, with Marie and Morgan being the ones facing off. So far, there was a minute and twenty seconds left on each clock. So far, the Big Jaw Pokemon had twelve ornaments and Morgan had eight.

"Come on, put that mouth to good use," Anthony jokingly encouraged, earning him a smack from her tail as she spit out a thirteenth bauble.

"Dating or not, you deserved that," Summer giggled as the Blastoise rubbed his cheek while grumbling.

Morgan was having a rather tough time keeping herself together as she buried herself in the guts again and again in order to pull out the baubles. The disgusting, slime-covered organs oozed from her mouth as she rose up without a bauble.

She looked at the clock on the opposing table and saw that there were only twenty seconds remaining. She growled as she buried her face back into the tank, sliding it around in an attempt to get more baubles.

She took out a ninth one before just slumping back in disgust. There was no way she was going to get more than Marie at that point.

Eventually, the clocks hit zero, signalling Marie to stop as she spit out a sixteenth bauble, panting heavily. "Mother of Arceus, that stinks…"

"We can tell," Fez commented, seeing the amount of slime covering her face, causing her face to glisten.

Marie touched her face, feeling the viscous slime still covering her face. "It wasn't _as_ bad, though. Just the smell."

"Well, you're a crocodilian, so that is to be expected," Mew spoke up. "Anyway, Ho-Ohs earn another point."

Zahku placed a number two card over the one underneath the Ho-Ohs' name.

"Okay good. We just need three more wins and this is over," Marie commented before turning to Anthony. "I require _your_ assistance to help me clean this off…"

"Isn't he next, though? I thought that we weren't trying to stay here that long," Klavier queried.

"It won't take that long…" Marie said, giving the Gliscor an unbothered look as she grabbed Anthony by the arm and dragged him out of the gazebo.

"Ugh… she'd better not try to get laid…" Lassie grumbled. "Now is _not_ the time."

"What makes you think that's her intent?" Summer retorted. "Just because she and Anthony are going alone doesn't mean they're gonna do anything."

 **-000-**

"Okay, I need to spray me and then kiss me…" Marie stated, standing behind the loser cabins.

Anthony blinked in response, taken aback by her request. "Uh… I thought we agreed to _not_ -"

Marie immediately gave him a death glare, which effectively silenced him before he could finish. Anthony only folded his arms, awaiting clarification, as he clearly had the wrong idea yet again.

"I want you two spray me with _water_ to get the slime off, and then _kiss_ _me_ in order to get the taste out of my mouth," Marie explained. "It's not that bad, but I'd rather not have it linger, so kiss me and use Water Gun or Hydro Pump in my mouth or someth-"

Anthony immediately used Hydro Pump on Marie's face before she could finish her statement, cleansing her face of the slime, before walking up and planting a kiss on her lips. He automatically tasted the fishy secretions on her tongue and used a gentle Hydro Pump into her mouth.

Water leaked from their connected maws, prompting Marie to break away from the kiss. She gargled and sloshed the water in her mouth before spitting it out behind her. She gave Anthony an annoyed look.

"You coulda warned me!" Marie said, wiping her mouth.

"Sorry," Anthony said sarcastically, holding a smirk.

Marie gave him a look before grabbing his arm and pulling him back to the gazebo.

 **-000-**

The couple returned to the gazebo, seeing that Connor was already set up on the opposing side. Seeing this, and knowing that he was next, Anthony could only groan.

"Now, why don't _you_ put that mouth to good use?" Marie teased, pushing him forward.

Anthony gave her a look before taking his spot.

 **000**

"I'm bored," Frosty commented as he lied in the snow. "Fishing is so tedious…"

"Frosty, you're literally just lying there. None of us are really fishing at all," Sally replied, looking down at the Snowstorm Pokemon annoyedly.

"Still bored…" Frosty replied.

Sally rolled her eyes as she sat against the large stone. Sensing her irritation, Ashton decided to try and engage in conversation that she hoped would change her attitude. She didn't want her to hate them or think they were annoying. Heck, Frosty was _just_ added to their friend circle, so she was hoping that he wouldn't be the cause.

"So, Sally, uh… How're things with Jet?" Ashton queried.

"Things are fine…" Sally replied simply. In the back of her mind, she was a bit annoyed, as she was already asked about this in the _other_ snow-related challenge. However, Ashton was actually tolerable, so she replied differently. "We're still stable."

"Well, that's good to know," Holly said. "You two are cute together."

"Thanks…" Sally replied. "It's good to hear after having people call you boring… Which is pretty true. I don't really do much."

"Well… Sorry that that happens," Amethyst replied. "And… I find it kinda dumb how people who see us in real life act like what happened in the show dictates how we'll behave in our daily lives or like they're better than us because we did or didn't do something they liked."

Sally shrugged. "People are idiots. _We_ go through the worst of the worst on this show, but _we're_ the cunts because we didn't do anything interesting or we said something they didn't like…"

"The way of the world…" Holly remarked, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly, a Feebas and a Magikarp were flung in their direction, both of them smacking Frosty in the face. "Ow…"

Sally got up, picking up the Feebas as it flopped about, while Ashton picked up the Magikarp with one of her vines. Sally used Thunder on the Feebas, knocking it out, which allowed her to reach into its mouth and retrieve a red chip. "29."

Ashton used her other vine to get into the other Fish Pokemon's mouth, pulling out yet another red chip. "17."

"I hope that we get good presents, because this is ridiculous," Frosty commented.

Sally rolled her eyes as she dropped the Feebas.

 **000**

 **Sally smacked her lips. "Is it bad that I'm actually preferring Egridos over Frosty right now?"**

 **000**

Aspen and Aura were heading back to the other side of the beach, hoping that they had thoroughly convinced the "tiresome trio" to vote for Freezeo if their team lost. As they approached, they immediately spotted the Crystallizing Pokemon, along with Brian, floating in one spot.

Brian was holding a rod, while Freezeo just floated there, watching. This was just further proving their point.

"Hey, this is more proof," Aspen said, nudging Aura. "We can actually show them his laziness!"

Aura gave her a look. "I don't trust it. You always see things like this. There _seems_ to be an opening, but as soon as you leave, something changes and people look at you like you're crazy or stupid."

Understanding where she was coming from, Aspen growled to herself. "That's true. Lucky bastard…."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that his luck will run out soon," Aura replied with a smirk.

 **000**

The clock ticked down from three, as Connor and Anthony continued going on with their teammates cheering them on. As the time stopped, both guys pulled back from the tank and gagged.

"Count 'em up," Mew said as the guys recoiled from their experience.

Marie counted for Anthony, while Taylor handled it for Connor. While the guys tried to get the putrid tastes out of their mouths, their respective spouses gathered their amounts.

"Alright, Anthony got seventeen of them," Marie reported.

Taylor huffed. "Well _Connor_ got seventeen, too."

"A tie?" Mew said, raising a brow as he skimmed through the paper to find out the protocol. Eventually, he found it, and he gained an indifferent look. He let out a sigh of agitation.

"So, what do we do?" Sola inquired.

"Zahku, do you have a coin?" Mew deadpanned.

The Hariyama pulled out a small coin, causing the others' eyes to widen.

"O,h we are _not_ deciding who wins this by a fucking coin flip…" Morgan stated, irritation in her voice.

"Apparently we are," Mew said, taking the coin from Zahku. "Alright, call it in the air…"

The New Species Pokemon flipped the coin.

"Heads!" Shine called.

Mew caught the coin and flipped it. "Heads it is. Lugias get the point."

"Okay, this is bullshit!" Anthony growled, slamming his hand against the table. "All of that just for it to be decided by a fucking _coin_?!"

"It's still tied up," Mew stated, wanting to move the challenge along. "Shine, Summer, you two are up."

The girls exchanged looks from across the gazebo before eventually taking their spots at the tanks, with the baubles being placed back in via Mew's kinesis, as they usually were.

Summer looked at Kojo, who winked at her, making her smile to herself. The odor was much stronger up close; she realized. She nearly gagged just from that. Shine, on the other hand, despite being disgusted, was relatively unfazed.

"Alright girls, the clocks are ready. In three… two… one… GO!"

Summer immediately dug into the tank, moving her face around in order to feel for the baubles in the tank. Feeling the slimy substance coat her face only got her thinking about what could be doing with Kojo, which irked her. In addition, the putrid smell was in higher concentration, making her nearly vomit in the tank.

Once she felt her mouth wrap around the circular object, she lifted her head and spit it out. She shuddered.

Shine muted her senses, not wanting to smell or taste the disgusting entrails. She proceeded to pull out and toss out guts in order to make it easier for her. It wasn't forbidden, either, making it even better.

She pulled out a bauble and tossed it to the side with minimal effort. She continued with the same method, uncovering three more baubles.

 **000**

Dhaunt finally reeled in a Magikarp, which was wiggling like mad. Marion grabbed hold of it and used Hex in order to knock it out. Once it was unconscious, she reached into its mouth and pulled out a white chip with the number '2' on it.

"We're number two… " Marion joked.

"That's not something to be happy about," Dhaunt commented as he cast his line out once again. "That either means that we're shit or second best…"

"It's just a joke, babe. Calm down…" Marion replied.

Spotting the two, Aura and Aspen exchanged knowing looks. Approaching them, Dhaunt tugged hard on his fishing rod, eventually pulling out a Wailmer, which landed on him. "OH COME ON!"

Marion lifted the Wailmer up via kinesis before tossing it back to the water. The Glaceon and Furfrou were a bit taken aback by the actions, but continued nonetheless.

"Hey guys…" Aspen greeted as Marion helped Dhaunt get back on his feet. The ghost-type couple turned to greet the two of them.

"Uh… Hi," Dhaunt greeted, unsure about why they were there. But, despite his skepticism, he was cordial. "Have you guys caught anything?"

"Aspen tried, but her rod got yanked away in the water, and I have no idea where my rod is," Aura explained. "How about you guys?"

"Well, my luck has been pretty bad…" Dhaunt explained. "I've barely caught anything that'll help the team. Just one Magikarp…"

"Something's better than nothing," Aspen explained. "And… uh… By chance, who are you guys planning to vote if we end up losing this?"

Marion gave them looks of distrust almost immediately after that question was proposed. "So you're just talking to us to get us to vote for someone?"

"Okay, I'll be honest, yes," Aura said. "We need your help."

"What do _you_ need from _us_?" Dhaunt queried. "We aren't exactly the most capable. No offense, sweetie."

Marion rolled her eyes before focusing back on the girls. "What's in it for us?"

"You don't even know who it is!" Aspen responded, not expecting that kind of response. "It may be someone that you won't care-"

"You're asking for our assistance, so I believe that we have the right to ask for something in return," Marion stated, folding her arms.

Aspen and Aura exchanged looks of unsurety before Aspen let out a sigh. "Fine. What do you want?"

"It's pretty simple," Marion replied. "You want our help with a vote. You help _us_ with a vote later on…"

The duo exchanged looks, with Aspen shrugging. Aura rolled her eyes. "Deal…"

"Good," Marion replied with a nod. "So, who were you trying to eliminate?"

"Freezeo," Aura replied. "He does nothing to help the team. Hell, he isn't even participating in the challenge NOW! He's just watching Brian."

"But… You guys aren't participating, either. You're trying to convince us to vote…" Dhaunt countered.

"Yes, but we actually gave you our reasons," Aspen replied. "So, that checks out. Can you two _please_ just help us?"

"Why is eliminating him so important to you?" Marion queried, suspecting an ulterior motive. "I mean, there are others that fit the same 'useless' category that you are using as a reason, including us…"

"We've already agreed to help you out with a vote later on down the road," Aura replied, getting annoyed by Marion's insistence. "Either you stop complaining and just help us out or the deal is off…"

Marion rolled her eyes, but remained quiet, while Dhaunt simply looked at his wife and back at the girls for confirmation.

"Good," Aura replied as she and Aspen began walking away.

Once they were gone, Marion faced Dhaunt with an unamused expression. " _We aren't exactly the most capable_?"

"We aren't! It's two of us, and a lot of them. If they wanted to, they could single us out at any time!" Dhaunt explained. "And like you said yourself, _we're_ part of that list of 'useless' players as well."

"And so are _they_ ," Marion responded, grabbing the sides of his face. "They're virtually useless because of Lassie and… practically anyone else here. And we're useless because of Lassie, Pia, and Brian."

"Wait, so... If we want to be seen as reliable…"

"We'll need to take out Lassie," Marion reasoned. "And hey, she hasn't really been _that_ involved with us as of late anyways. No big loss."

Dhaunt sighed. "I suppose so…"

"Come on, babe. We may actually have a chance here if we keep thinking strategically!"

"Wait a second… We talked about this earlier!" Dhaunt realized, having briefly forgotten their conversation not so long ago. "Marion. Being tryhards will only put larger targets on our already visible backs. Our best course of action is to just stay out of the drama and planning."

"We're helping Aura and Aspen this once and they're gonna help us once. That's final," Marion stated sternly, folding her arms.

Dhaunt groaned before falling back into the snow.

 **000**

" **You'd think that staying under the radar would be a big priority, but NOOOO…." Dhaunt stated grumpily.**

 **000**

Summer was vomiting in the brush, with Kojo going to comfort; she was only able to procure seven. Shine simply wiped her mouth and let out a cough. She had procured twelve, earning their team the point. The others were amazed by her lack of a reaction toward the challenge she'd just participated in.

"Wow. Shade musthave taught you things about entrails if you're not grossed out…" Phill commented.

"Yeah, what? Does he use blood as lube or something?" Fez queried in a serious tone, as he was astonished as well.

The Sun Pokemon gave both the mouse and bird a death glare, one that could rival her husband's. Then both of them felt themselves be smacked, sending them to the ground.

 **000**

" **Blood as lube…" Shine growled in annoyance. "When Shade and I fuck, WE FUCK. Nothing else. No murder lessons, no dismembered body parts,** _ **nothing**_ **. I'm getting** _ **really**_ **peeved at the fact that** _ **apparently**_ **I can't do** _ **anything**_ **without my husband being the reason I'm able to!"**

" **Literally, when I volunteered at Autumn's school to make lunches one day, some other moms came up to me, saw how precise I was, y'know, because I'm a** _ **psychic**_ **-type, and concluded that because my man has a vicious side,** _ **he**_ **taught me how to slice pieces of bologna…" Shine explained aggravatedly. "I swear, people** _ **really**_ **underestimate me. I'M NOT MENTALLY CHALLENGED! I CAN DO AND LEARN THINGS WITHOUT SHADE BEING INVOLVED!"**

 **000**

As Fez and Phill slowly got back to their feet, they passed irritated expressions in Shine's direction, which she ignored. Summer and Kojo returned to the gazebo as well, the former looking much more relaxed than usual.

Summer was particularly weak in the knees, as she slowly wobbled back to the tables, sitting down on the far end with a blissful smirk on her face. Her eyes never left Kojo as he smirked back. Seeing this interaction, Morgan grew suspicious as the mustelid came back over, having an idea of what happened.

"Kojo, that was _not_ the time for you to have sex!" Morgan claimed in a whisper, glowering at him as he passed by.

Immediately, his eyes widened. He grew confused. "Uh... We didn't have sex," he replied. "Just because we were alone together doesn't mean we had sex. Hell, we said that we weren't going to until we were out of this game because of all of the cameras."

"Okay, then why does she look so… lustful in the face?" Ace queried, seeing the Typhlosion's lovestruck expression still plastered on her face. "She looks like me when Chase is finished…"

"Just know that we didn't have sex. Other than that, I plead the fifth. So, can we move on with this challenge? I thought that we were in a hurry to just get it done..."

"We most certainly are," Mew said. "Right now, the Lugias are leading with three to two. So, let's see how things will change. Send up your next players…"

With a sigh, Ace walked up to the tank, while Lassie floated up to hers.

"Alright," Mew said as the baubles went back into the tanks. "In three… two… one… GO!"

Ace immediately held his breath as he buried his face into the tank. Lassie did the same, only with more success. Being a ghost-type, Lassie looked around and saw the baubles. She started pulling out the baubles without even having to taste or feel the entrails, making it all too easy for her.

"Why the hell did Victini decide to do a Christmas challenge based around fish?" Connor queried.

"Because he's random as shit," Mew replied as he watched Ace and Lassie continue. Lassie was already on her fifth bauble, while Ace was having trouble just finding one.

Seeing how fast Lassie was going, Sola grew a bit suspicious. This suspicion only extended further when she noticed that her face wasn't being coated in slime like everyone else. However, she had a feeling that saying something wouldn't do anything since the rule was that they had to use their mouths. No rule against what she was doing.

"This is going to be a long day…" Taylor groaned.

 **000**

Eventually, after sitting around for ten more minutes, the Lugias were able to reel in two Feebas, one Magikarp, a Relicanth, two Bruxish, and a Tentacool. While they fought the last four, the first three were kept on standby.

"Alright, we got '30', '1', and '8'," Sally said as she took out the chips. "This is much easier than expected. So, where were we?"

"If you and Jet weren't together, would you rather have a one night stand with… Dew or Zayn?" Holly queried.

Sally blushed. "Hmm… Interesting question. I'm partial to Zayn, but Dew just looks much hotter…"

"Hmm. I can see that," Ashton commented with a nod.

"Ever since the All-Stars season, people online keep saying that they just want Dew to strip for them and fuck them," Frosty laughed. "It's hilarious."

"Sheesh, isn't there anything else on television that people watch?" Amethyst queried.

"Oh, don't worry. A lot of critics pan this show," Frosty laughed. "They said that the show has the same formula and adds nothing new with every season, we're all emotionless husks with no sense of morality, Victini went from being a charming straightman to a complete sadist and Mew went from being a sadistic loser to just a boring loser, stuff like that…"

"Eh, they're not wrong. The only thing I disagree with is the thing about us and Mew," Sally said with a shrug.

"Critics know nothing!" they heard Victini shout over the megaphone.

"Okay, uh, let's just move on, huh?" Ashton queried. "Your turn, Sally."

"Oh, right. Uh… Amethyst. Would you rather… step on a Lego or kiss Otto?"

"Lego," she stated immediately. "No question…"

"Yeah, that was pretty easy," Ashton replied. "I doubt anyone would willingly choose to do _anything_ with Otto."

"Yeah," Holly giggled.

 **-000-**

"Brian, I don't think your device is working…" Freezeo commented.

Brian growled upon hearing that, reeling his fishing rod back in. "Why am I not surprised?" he grumbled shaking his rod before snapping it in two.

Suddenly, a bluish-purple circle appeared in the snow, causing their eyes to widen. "Uh… What the hell is this?"

"Do not worry cretin, I shall find out," Brian said as his fishing rod came back together. He floated into the portal, which immediately closed before Freezeo was able to. This left him alone, without a fishing rod.

 **000**

Ace and Lassie were finished, with Ace puking his own guts out into the bushes. When the Sylveon returned, he held an agitated expression. "Fucking disgusting…"

"What's the count?" Mew queried.

Ace looked over at the few baubles he had collected. He growled to himself. "Four…"

Lassie smirked, floating next to her stack of baubles. "Twenty-one…"

"You used your ghostliness to help you," Mew stated, having already known. "But, you still used your mouth only and there was no rule against personal advantages. So, I suppose you're okay via technicality.."

"Good," Lassie said.

"Ho-Ohs get the point," Mew said as Zahku placed a third number card under the Ho-Ohs.

"Oh come on! She had an unfair advantage!" Taylor exclaimed. "That shouldn't count!"

"No rule against personal advantages," Mew repeated. "Now, it's tied up once again. These next two rounds decide it all. Kojo and Pia, you two are up next, so make it count."

Kojo nodded, while Pia shrugged.

 **000**

" **If I lose this, it'll be all up to Fez, and if he fucks up, it's a double reason for him to go home…" Pia stated. "Well, excluding the presents. As long as we get bad presents, I'll be able to get rid of Aura, Aspen, or** _ **anyone**_ **really. But, the main priority is Furfrou bitch or Glaceon bitch…"**

 **000**

Kojo let out a sigh as he stood at his team's tank, while Pia had her arms folded. She was going to have to take her time. She didn't want to force a tie, so she decided to fake her complete disgust due to her huge nose.

"Okay, in three… two… one… GO!"

Kojo put his face into the tank, immediately feeling the cold, slimy guts against his face. The odor assaulted his nostrils, causing him to pull back and recoil from it. "Mother of Arceus, what the hell?"

"Kojo! We don't have time for you to react! Just do it!" Taylor exclaimed, not wanting to possibly face another elimination.

Meanwhile, Pia put her face into the tank, and took a whiff, inhaling the awful scent. She gagged before dramatically 'fainting'.

"Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me…" Anthony commented as Marie quickly helped her back up, only for Pia to go limp.

Kojo collected two baubles before noticing the predicament on the opposing side. "Uh… Should we be concerned?"

"She'll be fine. Keep going!" Shine urged.

Kojo was wary about continuing, not wanting to win because of someone else being injured, but, he knew that stopping would put a target on his back. He let out a sigh before digging back into the tank.

"Come on Pia, get up!" Marie said, lifting her up and shaking her a bit. She fanned the Hypno feverishly, trying to get her back up.

"Well, we're hosed," Phill stated.

Kojo continued to bob for the baubles in the tank. The taste of the moist insides just sickened him as a whole, similarly to everyone else. Eventually, the mustelid just decided to stop, the taste just being completely unbearable to him. He had collected six.

"Kojo, really?" Morgan groaned.

"Hey, it's not like I need to get a ton of them anyway. She passed out," Kojo replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, but even so…"

"Well, if Pia's rendered unconscious, I suppose I can give the Lugias the point so we can move on," Mew said.

"Oh come on!" Klavier groaned.

"Zahku?" Mew replied.

The Hariyama placed a '4' card under the Lugias.

"Well, fuck this, then," Fez commented. "If I'm the last hope, then I might as well forfeit, because this will take me a long fucking time with just my beak!"

"Shit, guys he's right," Phill said, annoyance in his tone of voice. "His mouth _is_ pretty damn small compared to the rest of us! We'll just end up fucking ourselves…"

Marie and Anthony, acting as the leaders of the group, exchange knowing looks. Their claims were very reasonable and most likely truthful.

"Fuck… we shot ourselves in the foot having him go last…" Anthony growled.

"Am I hearing the bellows of defeat over there?" Taylor queried.

"Don't push it," Marie stated. "If you guys hadn't won the damn coin toss, this would have been a tie. So, just know that you won because of a measly coin, not because of what you were able to do."

"Actually, you guys could _try_ and force a tie if Fez wins…"

"Yeah, that won't happen," Fez said. "And I DON'T want it to happen. I thought we wanted to just get out of here already."

"I'm just waiting. Do you guys really forfeit or not?"

"Yes…" Summer drawled, having snapped out of her lovestruck daze.

"Alright then. Lugias, congratulations. You win," Mew explained. "So, you get to choose three presents for yourselves _and_ three for the Ho-Ohs."

"Nice," Connor said with a smile.

"Now, let's get you guys back to the beach, then we can determine and winner and you all can go shower…" Mew stated before floating away from the gazebo. The others began to follow him, eager to see the outcome.

 **000**

Titan, Cramad, and Annie were currently trying to fight off a male Jellicent, which was firing Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball at them.

"This is fucking stupid!" Annie exclaimed. "Why isn't it just going down?!"

"ALL CONTESTANTS REPORT TO THE CHRISTMAS TREE! 'TIS THE SEASON FOR LOSING! BE SURE TO BRING YOUR CHIPS!"

"Are you fucking kidding m-" Cramad started before she, Titan, and Annie were finally hit by a Shadow Ball. The Jellicent sank back into the sea once they were on the ground.

 **000**

The contestants all reported to the tree, where they saw all of their fellow teammates, along with Mew, standing there with agitated expressions.

"So, how did you all enjoy your challenge?"

"Choke on a dick and die…" Taylor commented, glowering at him.

"Perfect," Victini replied chipperly.

"Wait, what _was_ you guys' challenge?" Dhaunt queried.

"This sick fuck had us bob for ornaments in a tank of fish guts," Sola explained, giving Victini an annoyed look.

"Hey, that sounds better than just sitting here in boredom," Frosty commented.

Almost everyone leered at the Vanilluxe with narrowed eyes, unable to believe what he just said.

"Can we just get this over with so that we can go shower?" Summer asked, wanting to just shower and feel clean after that challenge.

"Fine by me. So, who won?" Victini queried.

"The Lugias…"

The Ho-Ohs that were left behind all groaned in disappointment, while the Lugias cheered.

"Alright good," Victini commented. "Now, let's distribute the gifts and see which team wins and which one is sending someone home tonight. Horrible Ho-Ohs, since you guys lost the other challenge, I'll let you all retrieve your gifts first. What numbers were you able to procure?"

Annie shuffled the chips. "Uh… we got 10, 21, 7, 2, 4, and 6…"

"Okay, so I heard 10…" Victini said, picking up a cylindrical object wrapped in green and red wrapping paper. There was a label with a '10' on it. He handed it to Anthony.

"21…" Victini said, moving a large, rectangular box toward their team's side. It was wrapped in duct tape and plastic.

"7…" he continued, handing another, smaller wrapped cylinder to Lassie.

"2", he said, tossing a small blue and pink wrapped box to Marie.

"4", he said, handing Phill a flat, rectangular item wrapped in tinfoil.

"And… 6," he finished, rolling a larger cylindrical item next to them. It was covered in red paper with snowman decorating it.

The Victory Pokemon then turned to the Lugias, "You guys will add on at the very end, so be patient."

He turned his attention back to the Ho-Ohs, who were exchanging nervous looks at each other and the gifts that they received. Victini could only laugh to himself at their cowardice. "Alright, open them up!"

The members of the team that were nearest to the gifts or had them, looked very nervous. Phill took a breath, deciding to go first.

As soon as his hand touched the top of his gift, the paper ripped as a metal latch snapped on his fingers, causing him to scream out in complete pain. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ooh… mousetrap. Starting out poorly…" Victini commented, shaking his head teasingly.

Phill used his teeth to pry the latch off of his fingers, which he immediately started sucking on and shaking, the stinging sensation lasting long.

Summer eyed the large, cylindrical present on the ground. Unwrapping it, she saw that it was only a log. A moss-covered log.

"A log… man, that's gotta suck. Not really practically at all," Victini commented. "That's two bad presents, no good ones."

Anthony was hesitant, but he opened his gift, holding it steady in case something sprayed or exploded in his face. However, upon seeing what it was, his eyes widened. He was holding a black, battery-shaped speaker with lightning stripes on the middle.

"A Dr. JT Bluetooth Battery?!"

"NICE!" Victini admired. "That's one good present, two bad ones…"

Seeing Anthony's luck, Marie hoped that she got something good for the team as well. Unwrapping the gift in her hand, you found herself holdin cube with different colored sides. "A Rubik's Cube?"

"A toy for the intellect in us all. Pretty good," Victini said. "Two good and two bad. Could you guys actually be lucky?"

Lassie looked at the present in her hands and sighed before beginning to unwrap it. As soon as she did, it exploded, covering her in soot. She growled at Victini.

"Ash bomb," Victini hissed. "That's gotta suck. Three bad gifts and only two good ones. Let's see what this last gift has to offer…"

"Better hope it's good," Sally teased.

The Ho-Ohs nervously eyes their final gift, number 21. Cramad and Klavier used their claws to tears open the present. What they found was very bad. The present was revealed to simply be two wet cardboard boxes stacked atop each other.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Aspen commented, seeing the objects.

"Wet boxes. So, so sad…" Victini said mockingly. "That leaves you all with four bad gifts and only two good ones…"

"Fuck you…" Annie replied.

"No thank you," Victini responded before turning to the Lugias. "Alright, it's you guys' turn. And like I said earlier, you'll be adding the last three at the very end."

Sally had all of the chips for them. "We've got 29, 23, 17, 30, 1, 8, and 14…"

"Oh, one more than the Ho-Ohs," Victini realized. "Impressive. Let's see…""

Victini began looking under the tree, looking at the numbers on the tags.

"1…" he said, tossing a medium-sized sparkling, purple box to them, which Kojo caught.

"29…" he said, tossing a flaccid gift at them, which hit Frosty in the face.

"Ow…" the Snowstorm Pokemon expressed.

"23…" he continued, tossing a tall green box covered in bells at them.

"30," he said, throwing a spherical gift at them, with Sally catching it.

"17…" he continued, passing them an ovoid present wrapped in blue and yellow paper.

"8…" he said, throwing a small red box at the group, with Ashton picking it up with her vines when the box hit the ground.

"And… 14," he said, riding over on a segway, which only had a red bow on it.

Seeing this, the Ho-Ohs immediately growled.

"Well, as you can see, you already have one good gift," Victini explained, gesturing to the segway. "Now, open the rest of your junk."

Ace picked up Present 23, taking the top off of it. Immediately upon seeing what it was, his face turned a faint red and her closed the box back. He narrowed his eyes at the Victory Pokemon. "Fucking really?"

"What is it, Ace?" asked Shine.

Ace let out a sigh before opening the box once again and pulling out a multicolored phallus dildo, with a large, rounded base. Everyone's eyes widened, even Victini's.

"Huh… Did _not_ expect to see that," he said.

"Oh please, you know that you planted this!"

"Actually, no. I told Colton and Tyson to buy things good and just find bad or random stuff for bad gifts," Victini explained. "But, considering what its purpose is, I'll consider it good…"

"Uh… Can I get that from you?" Taylor queried, eyeing the toy.

"You've got a whole Bouffalant next to you!" Ace argued.

"So?!"

"Okay, moving on…" Victini said.

Frosty used his bottom to tear the paper off of the present that hit him in the face. It was revealed to be a red sweater with white Christmas trees on it.

"Ooh… an ugly Christmas sweater. Your first bad gift…"

"Aw… but these are cool," Frosty commented.

Sally unwrapped her gift and saw that it was just a beach ball, which made her sigh.

"Beach ball, not bad," Victini said. "So far, three good and one bad…"

Kojo opened the box in his hands, pulling out a DVD. Immediately, his eyes widened. It was one of the movies he acted in. The cover had him on the opposite side of a Machamp, with a Gardevoir in the middle of them.

"Uh… "'Scandalous'", Kojo said, showing the DVD front.

"Oh yeah…" Victini stated. "The movie starring Jessica Hilbert, Spencer Davage, and _Adam Kingston_. Isn't it a _great_ one?"

Kojo gave the Victory Pokemon an annoyed look. "Yes, it's a great one, but not just because I acted in it."

"Oh, you did?" Sola queried.

"Yeah," Kojo grumbled.

"Alright, four good and one bad," Victini said. "Also, Kojo's real name is Adam Kingston. Anyways…"

Both Kojo and Summer groaned. "Seriously, was that really necessary?"

"What? I found it humorous," Victini replied. "Anyways, next gifts."

Ashton opened the box that she picked up, only to sigh at its contents. "Are these real dentures?" she queried, showing a pair of old, rotten dentures.

"Yes they are. So, that makes four good presets and two bad," Victini reminded. "Open your last one and we can go to the bonuses."

Carson decided to open the final present, which was revealed to be a radio, much to the team's happiness. "Yes! A radio!"

"Congratulations, Lugias, you've gotten better presents than the Ho-Ohs so far," Victini said. "However, as the winners of the other challenge, you have the opportunity to add three more presents to their haul, if you'd like to, of course. You could very well give them the win unintentionally. So, would you like to risk it or just-"

"We'll just take the win, thank you," Morgan stated sternly. "It means that the other challenge was for jack shit, but-"

"Actually, it means that _you_ guys actually get to keep the presents that you've gotten," Victini said. "AND you get the Ho-Ohs'."

"WHAT?!" Anthony exclaimed, clutching the speaker in his hands.

"Eh, fine by me," Marie said, tossing the Rubik's Cube to Victini as he floated up and took the speaker from Anthony.

The Blastoise groaned.

Victini handed the items to Kojo, who had the best hands of the people on his team. "Congratulations Lugias, you guys are safe from elimination."

He turned to the Ho-Ohs. "Ho-Ohs, you guys are heading to elimination tonight…"

The team groaned in annoyance, with Pia holding a smirk. Aura and Aspen exchanged looks of anxiousness.

 **000**

" **Piece of cake. I was able to convince Anthony, Summer, Marie, Phill, and Klavier to vote for Aura, so it looks like with all of our votes, she'll be going bye bye…"**

 **000**

At the elimination ceremony, everyone except for Aura and Freezeo had their names called. Aura looked extremely nervous, while Freezeo simply sighed due to him being down there.

"Alright, Aura and Freezeo. Two ice-types who are pretty much outclassed by other competitors," Victini said. "It's time to see who's getting the shaft."

"We've got…. One vote for Freezeo, one for Aura. Another one for Freezeo. Yet _another_ one for Freezeo. Another one for Aura. So far it's three for Freezeo and two for Aura," Victini explained. "We've got another for Freezeo, and another one for Aura. We've got…. _Three_ for Freezeo AND _three_ for Aura…"

"What the hell did _I_ do?!" Freezeo exclaimed.

"Nothing. You've been doing absolutely nothing," Aura stated. "The only reason I'm down here is because Pia is targeting Aspen and I despite us not doing anything to her…"

Pia rolled her eyes. "Finish the votes, Victini…"

"I was going to anyway…" the Victory Pokemon replied, glowering at her. "Now, there are three votes left. We have one for Aura and one for Freezeo. And the final vote goes to…

…

…

…

…

...Freezeo. Your time here is done."

"WHAT?!" Freezeo exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" Pia bellowed in anger.

"YES!" Aura cheered, raising her paws in victory. "Fuck you, Pia!"

"How the hell is that even possible! That should have been nine votes against her!" Pia exclaimed.

"Well," Summer spoke up. "I _might_ have changed my mind when I thought about performance as a whole. Freezeo has barely contributed anything valuable to the team, while Aura is actually trying…"

"Well even without her, that should have been eight votes!" Pia said, looking around. "Wait… where's Brian?"

 **000**

The song " _Shooting Stars"_ was playing as Brian found himself floating through different portals, each with different worlds. This included underwater, outer space, an open field, a volcano, the Distortion World, the Hall of Origins, and a familiar old, dusty whitish-gray plane.

"What the heck is going on?!" Brian exclaimed before slamming into a box in storage. A piece of paper fell onto his face. He picked it up. "Total… Xtreme World Tour Inventory… I am on another show… In another dimension!? Mwahahaha! These fools will never know what hit them!"

"I'll just leave you right here," Brian said, placing his Dimension Rod leaning against one of the boxes. "And if I get in trouble, I'll just vamoose…"

 **000**

"He's not here, meaning that he didn't get a vote…" Aspen replied with a smirk. "Too bad…"

Pia growled.

"Freezeo, it's time for you to go, dude," Victini said, as the Cryogonal let out a sigh.

 **000**

Freezeo was inside of the elevator doors, with Pia standing nearby. "This sucks…"

"Yep," Victini commented. "Have a nice fall!"

Victini pressed the button, dropping the snowflake down the tube. After seeing this, Pia groaned to herself, tapping her foot irritatedly. How was Aura able to save herself so easily? And now the rest of the team knew about her plan; she doubted that they cared, but it was still an issue.

She was going to need to be get smarter and watch herself. She had no idea where Brian went, but he ended up costing them Freezeo. And there were definitely going to be repercussions.

 **000**

" **Brian… You are dead," Pia stated. "Now everyone knows about my plans and we're down an alliance member. I'll have to try and recruit truly** _ **reliable**_ **people now. This is just making my game harder than it needs to be…"**

 **000**

 **And Freezeo's now gone. Oh well. At least people got presents… despite the awful fish challenges. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	16. Who Dat?

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, in the Christmas Special that nobody asked for, the contestants were faced with very** _ **cod**_ **challenges that made them** _ **fish**_ **they were back at home. Klavier slowly started opening up a bit more to Holly, having a double date with Kojo and Summer, as well as Phill. Marie and Anthony decided to make their relationship prevalent outside of challenges, as to not hinder their focus on challenges. And, Aura and Aspen discovered Pia's alliance and hatched a scheme to weaken it by getting rid of Freezeo. In the challenges, which included fishing and bobbing for ornaments in fish guts, the contestants faced boredom and disgust as they worked heard to try and earn presents. At the end of the day, The Lugias won, and due to the absence of a key member,** _ **and**_ **a change of mind, Freezeo was sucked away.**

 **What will Pia do this time? What happened to the jail? Who will voted out this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

The day following Freezeo's elimination, things remained pretty normal, almost as if nothing had changed at all. Of course, this was true for nearly every elimination, but things were continuing to look up for the remaining contestants.

It was a rather cloudy day as opposed to the usual sunshine that plagued the island that the competition was held on. In the Winner's Cabin, Kojo and Summer were lying on the couch in the living room. Summer was lying atop the Mienshao's chest as the two snuggled underneath a blanket.

Summer had convinced Kojo to put in his movie and the two had been watching and commentating over it for nearly half an hour.

"Wait, so Spencer really tried to flirt with you?" Summer giggled.

"Yes, and it made shooting _very_ awkward!" Kojo replied. "He smacked my ass every time we finished a good shoot, wink at me when we passed by each other, and would borderline _force_ me to eat with him and a few of the others. It was so fucking unnerving…"

"Aw… my poor baby," Summer teased, placing her hands on either side of his face, with his paws moving down her waist. "Does mommy have to get the memory out of your head~?"

"Maybe," Kojo responded playfully before they engaged in a passionate lip lock. The couple didn't let up for a second, continuing their make out session on the couch.

Kojo briefly broke the kiss sitting up straight, with his back against the back of the couch. Summer straddled him, locking their lips back together again.

Coming to the kitchen to get something to eat, Taylor let out a yawn, smacking his lips softly. Hearing the sound of shuffling coming from the front, he immediately groaned to himself in annoyance. He didn't have anything against Kojo _or_ Summer for that matter, but he found it kind of unfair to let her come into the Winner's Cabin every time they won and vice versa. If a team lost, everyone on the team deserved the same treatment.

Seeing them get friskier and friskier on the couch really irked him. He really wanted to say something, but he knew that he'd open up a can of Wurmple and he didn't want to risk getting eliminated over a disagreement. So, he decided to just focus on getting his breakfast items and heading back to his and Connor's bed.

He opened the cabinets, taking out a box of wrapped, frosted danishes using his tail. Once procured, he slithered back toward the bedroom, leaving the kissing couple on the couch.

 **000**

" **I have no ill will against Kojo or Summer, but I really wish that they'd actually focus on their own teams instead of each other," Taylor explained. "** _ **She**_ **doesn't need to be there every time** _ **we**_ **win. And** _ **he**_ **doesn't need to be in there when** _ **they**_ **win. It's unfair to the rest of us."**

 **000**

Heading to the back, the Milotic noticed that his significant other was finally starting to awaken. A smile slowly appeared on his face, despite his recent thoughts. "Morning~" he greeted, slithering into the bed with him.

"Morning," Connor responded groggily with a yawn. Taylor initiated a brief kiss with the Bash Buffalo Pokemon, which lasted only a couple of seconds. "It was a good idea to move the two beds closer together. Now we have more space."

"Yep, and more room to fool around as we please~" Taylor whispered sensually. "I mean, we got the _toy_ for 'Christmas', after all…"

"Babe. It still hasn't been a full month," Connor replied, giving the anxious water-type a playful look. "We haven't even gone on an official date, yet. Pace yourself..."

Taylor sighed in disappointment. "Fine. We won't have sex…"

"Taylor, I'm sure you'll be fine without it for a while," Connor replied. "When was the last time you had it anyway?"

"Um… about eight months ago," Taylor responded, having to dive back into his memory banks.

"Oh. Well, I can see you being as pent up as you probably are right now," Connor chuckled, causing Taylor to blush a deep crimson.

Wanting to just move the conversation along now, Taylor eyed the danishes in the box, beginning to pick one up and open it with his teeth. "Want one?" he queried.

Connor hummed to himself. "Thanks for the offer, babe, but I'm not really a danish eater. They just have a weird texture that I don't like…"

"Oh, uh… alright, then," Taylor replied before munching on one of the pastries. "What are you gonna eat?"

"Hmm, I dunno. But, the challenge shouldn't be starting that soon, so I have enough time," he said as he began lying back down.

"You're going back to bed?" Taylor queried with a laugh.

"Hey, I've got nothing better to do," Connor replied with a smirk as he yawned once again.

Taylor kissed his cheek, giggling. "You're so cute…"

"Thank you. And so are you…" Connor replied with a small smile as Taylor smiled back at him.

Taylor, despite not being as tired, lied down next to him, coiling his tail around the two of them. In the back of his mind, Taylor just knew that he loved Connor. His true, kind, helpful nature really helped amplify that fact, and his cuteness and package were just an added bonus. The Milotic snuggled closer to the Bouffalant, feeling his soft, warm afro against his face.

 **000**

Pia was impatiently sitting on Brian's bed inside of his lair. She was ready to tear him a new one for being MIA and causing them them to lose Freezeo. Now she had to think of someone else that possible help her out, because Brian was only proving his unreliability at this point. She was going to end up eliminating _him_ due to his lack of usability. The only thing he could do was make inventions that would fuck up, and he was just as bad as Freezeo was challenge wise.

She rose up from the self-proclaimed evil genius' bed and began exiting. She needed to start thinking about who would be worthy allies _this_ time around. So far, every one of her allies has been eliminated from the game, with the exception of Brian, which would change rather soon.

The Hypno hummed. "Now, who would be willing to work with me?"

She thought about her teammates and who she could either manipulate or who she could see as being reliable. She relayed the pros and cons of her teammates to herself.

"I'm getting rid of Brian as soon as we lose another challenge," Pia said to herself. "So, he's out. Fuck both Aspen and Aura…"

"Annie _may_ be good, but she's already with Titan and Cramad a majority of the time and I don't really care for them. Summer is all doughy-eyed for Kojo, so that's just a reason to eliminate her, and Klavier, Fez, and Phill are just fodder. So, that leaves Dhaunt, Marion, Lassie, Marie, and Anthony."

"Hmm… Marie and Anthony seem to be okay with going along with my ideas, but I can see them becoming annoyances when it comes down to final decisions," she said to herself. "As for the ghost trio…They hold promise. They aren't as argumentative and they aren't prominent by any means, so it will be perfect."

She walked through the forest, on a search for the three of them.

 **000**

" **Every single time I get a group of allies, they get eliminated due to uselessness or screwing something up," Pia explained. "Aura and Aspen can stay for now, I suppose, because right now Brian needs to go."**

" **Lassie, Dhaunt, and Marion will be perfect allies. And, if they get voted off… Oh well. They're pretty useless anyways. Them being under the radar will make it so that they're here longer than they need to be. Not gonna happen."**

 **000**

Lassie was reading a book in the Loser Cabin, not really having an interest in doing anything else. With her ex-husband eliminated, the Froslass felt that she didn't really serve a purpose in the game. Sure, she still competed and helped with challenges, but she would much rather just be back at home. Anything was better than just being in this awful game show.

Flipping a page of her romance novel, _Love Above It All_ , she suddenly heard a knock on the door of the rickety old cabin. She didn't feel like moving _and_ the door was unlocked, so she just stayed in her bed. "Come in…" she said disdainfully, not wanting to be disturbed.

Pia opened the door having known that the Snow Land Pokemon was residing inside. Not just because they lost the last challenge, but because, lately, that's where she would usually be before challenges.

"Hey there, Lassie," she greeted with a wave.

"Hi," the ice- and ghost-type replied tonelessly, her eyes focused on the book in her hands.

"Uh… What're you reading?" the psychic-type inquired.

"A book," she replied in her same tone. "Now, I don't want to be rude, but if you plan on asking me to do anything, I'll have to ask you to leave."

Immediately, Pia walked out without saying a word, making Lassie huff with a smirk. She could only shake her head in amusement. After hearing about Pia's plan to eliminate Aura and Aspen at the last elimination ceremony, Lassie knew that the Hypno was not to be trusted.

She didn't really care about Aura or Aspen, but she knew that she just couldn't trust Pia.

 **000**

" **I don't care about the game anymore, but I still know that I'm** _ **not**_ **going to trust Pia," Lassie explained. "That would just be stupid on my part."**

 **000**

" **Okay, so she has to go, too," Pia said, her arms folded.**

 **000**

Anthony and Marie were inside of the stadium. The two of them didn't want to stay cooped up in the Loser Cabins, so they decided to head to the stadium for some alone time.

Anthony was slammed into the wall of the stadium by an extreme jet of water. He growled in irritation as he rushed back toward the source of the attack, Marie.

The two decided to engage in a battle for fun, not wanting their relationship to only comprised of hugs and kisses like the rest of them. Unlike the gym, which only had the ring, the stadium offered more space and room to really attack without the risk of harsh damage.

Anthony rushed toward her before stopping and firing water from his cannons. Marie did a grand leap, dodging the attack before landing on Anthony, knocking the wind out of him. The Shellfish Pokemon was able to push her off, before holding his palms together and charging up an orb of energy.

Marie, seeing what he was doing, rose up a foot before smashing it back onto the ground. The stadium floor palpitated aggressively, causing Anthony to flinch and nearly fall over. He swiftly fired his Focus Blast toward Marie, who dodged it.

She smirked. "Come on, big boy. You've gotta do better than that!"

Anthony immediately fired an Ice Beam at her, freezing her feet in place. She sneered, forcing herself to jump up and landed back down, smashing the ice and freeing herself. She rushed up to him, her right claw glowing as a dark indigo aura surrounded it.

Anthony saw it coming and put two arms up, causing a barrier to appear in front of himself. Marie tried to swipe at him with Dragon Claw, but the Protect kept it from happening. She scoffed at this. "You know Protect, really?"

"Hey, self-preservation is key for me," Anthony defended playfully.

Marie giggled as the Protect went down. "Well, I think that was good enough for today. And I must say, I kicked your butt…"

"What!?" Anthony bellowed in response. "Oh puh-lease! Neither of us even fainted…"

"True, but who actually got more hits off?" Marie responded haughtily.

The Blastoise, hearing her reasoning, grumbled to himself before walking up to and wrapping his arms around her waist, with her leaning back against him. "Fine. I'll admit you've bested me this time around…"

Marie giggled. "Submission? Huh, didn't expect you to be so accepting of being beaten by your girlfriend…"

"Meh. It's just a play battle. Doesn't really matter," Anthony responded.

Marie rose a brow upon hearing that. "Oh really~? Then, how about we have a _real_ battle, then?"

The Blastoise groaned to himself. He _really_ didn't want to battle again. As a Squirtle and Wartortle, he could maybe handle three or four battles, but now, as a larger, heavier Blastoise, he got winded a bit faster.

"Um… Y'see, I would, but I'm tired," Anthony replied sheepishly. "I'm pretty big now, as you can see. So-"

"Oh please," Marie interrupted. "If you're able to handle these crazy challenges that Victini has been pulling out of his ass, you can handle a short battle…"

"Come _on_ , babe…" Anthony groaned.

"Hey, you just said it yourself," Marie replied. "You said you were larger and heavier. This battle will give you some exercise…"

The Blastoise sighed to himself. He had set himself up for that one, big time. Marie hummed, hearing his sigh.

"How about a bit of _incentive_?" Marie teased, turning to face him. "If you battle and win…"

She whispered in his ear; Anthony's eyes immediately widened at what she was saying. A blush slowly spread across his face. When she moved from Anthony, Marie looked at him with glazed eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Anthony urged with sudden enthusiasm. Marie rolled her eyes playfully as the Blastoise moved away from her.

 **000**

" **When it doubt, offer him something…" Marie said, shrugging her shoulders.**

 **000**

Morgan, Shine, Sola, Ace, and Sally were back at the jail. After the previous challenge, the others asked Sally about her fishing experience and vice versa as they sat in the office. They still hadn't cleaned up the space, but sat on the green carpet in order to engage in their conversations, which were rather brief.

"...I never realized how annoying Frosty was until yesterday," Sally commented. "He just went on and on about how all of our relationships formed just because we wanted to fuck. I had to end the conversation before he pissed me off more."

"Wait… He hasn't even been in a relationship himself, as far as we know. Why was he even talking about that?"

"They were talking about Holly and Klavier's double date with Summer and Kojo," Sally explained. "Holly said that she noticed that Summer and Kojo acted like they had been together for years when they hadn't. Carson thought it was weird and that if they were doing that, then they were moving too fast, and then Frosty started his whole spiel…"

"What? Does he think that the relationships formed from the show are bad or something?" Sola queried. "Because, I can sort of agree with him, considering some of the breakups and stuff. "

"No, he said that it was just a conversation starter to him. Like we were supposed to rethink or talk about all of the time we've spent with the people we've grown to love just because it wasn't a 'typical' way," Sally explained, still irked by the subject itself.

"Okay, I'm sure that Frosty didn't mean it in the way you're perceiving it," Shine opined. "Plus, it's just his opinion. It doesn't mean it's true. Some relationships here started because of the time that people have spent with each other, not just initial sexual attraction, so that should have immediately lead you to dismiss him."

Hearing that, Sally let out a sigh. Maybe she _was_ reading too much into it. Frosty did say that it was from _his_ experience and what hesaw through _his_ eyes. She took a deep breath before exhaling. "I need a fucking break…" she muttered.

Sola giggled. "Well, the phone _is_ right there…"

"Sola, I'm pretty sure that she's not gonna want to screw Jet in here," Morgan responded, giving the Absol a jocular look. " _One_ , this place is still dirty. _Two_ , there are still cameras everywhere. And _three_ , _we_ are in here."

"Well, _one_ , we can clean this place like we said we would yesterday. _Two_ , that doesn't matter since they have footage of us from likely _every_ angle by now. And _three_ , this place is big enough so that we can separate it into a 'relief' area and a normal hangout area," the Disaster Pokemon said while traipsing around the vicinity.

The others exchanged looks upon hearing that idea. It actually sounded pretty good. The jail office would essentially be a clubhouse of sorts for them, which was rather strange to think about.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Ace opined. "Have a larger hangout area space and a smaller place for private time if we want it."

"Or even then, if we _don't_ want to just have a boot-, well _penis_ call, we could just hang out and get a taste of home with our guys just being here," Morgan added.

"Well, what's stopping us from bringing them in now?" Sola queried. "They can help us clean this place. They're gonna be in here, too."

"Wait, how do we know that the phone will allow multiple people to be here?" Shine queried.

"Come on up and find out," Sola offered. "And if it doesn't, you're a psychic-type. You should be able to allow it."

Shine rolled her eyes. She didn't mind Shade being there; heck, she'd _love_ for him to be there. But it felt kind of weird to her considering how she had been thinking lately. People only affiliated her abilities with Shade, rather than her own strengths, so deep down she just felt worthless.

Nevertheless, she approached the phone, picking it up. It immediately started to ring, with Shade materializing next to her within seconds. He was initially just lying down with a bored expression on his face, but seeing his new location, he immediately looked around and got to his feet.

Upon seeing Shine, he smiled softly, but the look in her eye told him that something was wrong. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Shine went ahead and nuzzled under his chin, his comforting scent filling her nostrils and his rough fur brushing against her own soft fur.

"Uh… Hey S-Shade," Ace greeted, still rather frightened by the Moonlight Pokemon.

"Hey," he greeted back, looking around and seeing who all was there. He looked back down at his wife, who briefly stopped her nuzzling to look up into his eyes. He looked around before noticing the elevator there.

"Um… Can we talk?" he whispered to her.

Nodding, Shine followed him as the Umbreon headed toward the elevator. Once they both entered, the elevator began going down, leaving the others there.

"I wonder what that was about…" Morgan said, concerned. The others shrugged it off and proceeded to the phone one by one.

 **-000-**

As the couple rode the elevator down, they stayed close together, with Shine resting her head against Shade's chest.

"I uh… I saw the last episode…" Shade said, causing Shine to let out a sigh. Hearing it, he only brought her closer. "Baby… Why didn't you tell me how you felt? About what happened at Autumn's school?"

Shine looked up into his eyes. "Because, I didn't want you to have to change just because of how others see me", she explained, nuzzling back up to his neck again as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I know you love me and you'd rather die than let anything bad happen to me, Spike, or Autumn. You're a genuinely dedicated guy and I absolutely love you for that. You're being true to yourself…"

"Shine. I don't want you to let anyone else get you down," Shade said, hugging her close. "You're a beautiful girl with a lot of brains, charm, and emotion. Don't you ever doubt yourself. People saying that I'm teaching you how to do things that you already knew how to do are just idiots who only know and see me as a psycho."

The elevator finally stopped, with the doors opening up to the bottom floor. A small smile was on Shine's face as she faced Shade and hugged him, small tears starting to form in her eyes. "I love you…" she whispered.

"I love you, too," Shade whispered back, accepting the hug before kissing her cheek.

The Espeon took a breath before letting out a soft sigh of relief. She pressed the 'up' button on the elevator, causing the doors to close and them to rise back up to the office.

 **-000-**

Once they were back up, they saw that the other males were now in the office as well. Demenio, Chase, Hex, and Jet were all a bit confused as to why they were all there at the same time.

"Huh, I'm _not_ the only one who was called," Shade spoke up.

"Nope, 'fraid not," Demenio replied while Sola purred as she nuzzled him.

"Does anyone want to tell me where I am and why?" Chase queried, looking around the office as Ace playfully rolled his eyes. "Wait, this isn't an orgy is it? Because I call Ace!"

"No, no, no. No orgies will be occurring here," Morgan said. "We just called you guys here because we missed you and wanted to spend some time with you…"

"Aw… my sexy kitty misses me…" Hex, nudging her with a smirk.

"Of course," Morgan said, hip checking him playfully.

"Well, I sort of recognize some of you from the show when I was younger, so… Hey, I guess," Chase spoke up before turning to Ace. "And hmm… You missed me, huh?"

Ace blushed with a smile. "Maybe…"

"Maybe?" Chase teased before rolling atop the Sylveon. "Am I gonna have to turn that into a 'positively'?"

"Down boy," Ace giggled as Chase licked his neck. "We haven't fixed the place up yet…"

"Yeah," Sally chimed in, already sitting in Jet's lap. "We plan on fixing this place up so that it's a place of leisure _and_ pleasure, so we may need you guys' help cleaning and moving things…"

"But uh… Isn't Hex a magician and Shine a psychic-type?" Jet queried. "I'm pretty sure we're not really needed."

Everyone remained silent at that revelation. The silence was soon interrupted by Chase, however. "So… No orgy, huh?"

 **000**

Marion was with Dhaunt, sitting in front of LeGrae High School. Despite their conversations about the subject in the last challenge, Marion was _still_ insistent that they needed to have a strategy. Marion had been floating back and forth, while Dhaunt lied on the engraved stone that had the school's name on it.

"Can you remind me why we're here?" the fatigued Gengar asked, staring up at the cloudy sky.

"I'm waiting for someone," Marion explained.

"Uh… Who?" Dhaunt queried.

"You'll find out…" Marion said, waving away his question.

Dhaunt rolled his eyes before going back to looking at the sky. Just then, a shadow passed over him in the form of a bird. Soon enough, a familiar figure landed in the clearing. It was revealed to be Fez, who abruptly landed next to the stone, startling Dhaunt and causing him to fall off of the stone.

"Fez? What are you doing here?" Dhaunt queried, getting to his feet.

"Marion asked me here," Fez replied.

The Gengar turned to his wife, who smiled upon seeing the Unfezant there. "Ah, there you are, Garrett…"

Hearing that, Fez groaned, holding a wing to his head. "Can you please not refer to me by my government name? What did you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd be interested in forming an alliance with us," Marion explained.

Dhaunt immediately facepalmed; he didn't really think that this was necessary.

"Uh… Well, I'm not completely against the idea, I just don't see the use right now," Fez explained. "We're all pretty much on the chopping block in the 'useless' department. As long as we actually win and steer clear of trouble, we should make it."

"THANK YOU!" Dhaunt exclaimed. "See babe, _he_ knows what I'm talking about!"

"That won't get us as far as you guys think!" Marion responded. "Just because we don't do anything and are considered useless doesn't mean anything. _Anyone_ can win this game. Skore won in the first season and all he did was whine, complain, and cry for a good majority of it. Darren won the second season and he barely did anything…"

"Uh… You're just proving our point," Fez interrupted.

"Let me finish!" Marion interjected. "Now, starting at season three is when things changed. People with actual strategies and their heads in the game actually started winning. Examples: Mason, Sky, and Lila. Can't speak on the season before this one since we didn't really see it, but I'm going to assume that it was also the case."

Fez and Dhaunt glanced at each other before looking back at the Banette. Their point still stood; people who did nothing and stayed calm made it further at some point.

"Being all nonchalant and floating through the game may have worked in the past, but nowadays everyone knows to weed out the weaklings since they now know that they actually have a chance," Marion explained. "I'm trying to save us _from_ that outcome!"

Dhaunt, seeing how passionate she was getting over this, eventually let out a sigh. "Fine."

Marion looked to him in surprise. "What?"

"Fine. We'll do another stupid alliance…"

Marion smiled, hugging him. "Thanks dude," she thanked.

Dhaunt rolled his eyes, looking over to Fez. "You in?"

"Err… Nah. I don't think so," Fez replied. "But, good luck."

The Proud Pokemon started flying away, leaving the couple alone again. Dhaunt shrugged it off, as he understood Fez's reasoning. Marion, on the other hand, sighed.

 **000**

" **What is so hard to understand!?" Marion exclaimed. "Sheesh, I know I'm a skater girl, but I'm pretty sure I'm speaking coherently! Floating through the game is futile! Simple!"**

 **000**

Phill was wandering around the beach out of boredom. With both of his friends occupied with their girlfriends, he was left with nothing to do. As he crossed the grainy surface, the individual grains making their way between his toes, he noticed two figures lying down in the distance.

Closer inspection helped identify the figures as Aspen and Aura, who were each relaxing on a towel. Usually the Mouse Pokemon would steer clear of them or pass the occasional witty remark when they slung insults or complained, but he had to admit, they _were_ very attractive. It got him thinking. They were _way_ out of his league, and they'd probably never find him attractive in a million years, but maybe they could help him out when it came to girls.

He knew that Aura had a pretty bad reputation, relationship-wise, but she seemed to _really_ be into Shade and Ricky a few seasons back. As for Aspen, he didn't really know much about her relationships. All he knew was that she had one, which was good enough for him.

Approaching the pair, Phill let out a sigh. Sensing the presence of someone, the girls turned to the side, only to see Phill there. The presence of the Raticate was peculiar, as he never approached either of them before.

"What do you want, Phill?" Aura asked tonelessly. She didn't mind him being there, but that didn't mean that she liked it.

"Uh… I was hoping to get some advice…" the Raticate spoke. "...Female advice."

Hearing that, Aspen rose a brow as Aura just gazed at him in befuddlement.

"Out of everyone on this island, you decide to come to _us_ for advice?" Aura responded, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Well, considering that nearly everyone here is busy or somewhere that I don't feel like traipsing to, yes," Phill answered truthfully.

Aspen let out a sigh, a smile following it. "Okay."

"What?" Aura said in confusion, turning to her friend.

"Come on Aura, Phill just wants some advice on how to get a girl," Aspen replied. "We should help him."

Aura sighed, hesitance oozing from her pores. She just had a feeling that _things_ were going to be brought up that made her feel awful. "Fine…"

"Thanks," Phill said. "I'm an unattractive loser and I'd like to know how to make myself appealing to girls. Or at least find some that may be attracted to me by myself."

"Wow…" Aspen replied, not expected to hear that from him. "I'd argue, but… You seem kind of adamant about it, so I'm not gonna say anything."

Phill only blinked in response, admiring the perturbed expression that each girl held from his poor opinion of himself.

"Uh… Yeah, I don't know how we can help you…" Aura stated, still taken aback by his self-loathing statement. "If you don't think you're attractive and you don't think anyone would find you attractive, how are we supposed to help you? You'd have to have a least a _smidgen_ of confidence in yourself if-"

"CONTESTANTS! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE! MEET US AT THE STADIUM IN FIVE!"

"For fuck's sake, it looks like a colosseum on the inside," Aspen groaned. "I wish these idiots would learn the correct terminology..."

Phill shrugged. "You learn that when it comes to the hosts, they follow their own logic and reasoning. You just go with it."

He started walking in the direction of the large structure, with the girls following him.

 **000**

Eventually, all of the contestants made their way to the stadium. The large, stone structure looming over them. Being that this was their designated location, they assumed that the next challenge would be combat-based.

Anthony groaned, making Marie smirk. "More battling, seriously?!"

"What's the matter, tubby?" Sally joked. "Can't handle a few hits?"

"Nah, I think it's the fact that I kicked his butt twice already…" Marie answered cockily, causing Anthony to clench his fists and pass her a faux irritated expression.

Taylor was coiled around Connor lovingly, the Bouffalant leaning against him. Seeing this display, Annie couldn't help but glare and growl to herself.

 **000**

" **Okay, this is just stupid," Annie said. "I could never be with someone with as bad a track record as Taylor. Just… UGH! Connor is making the biggest mistake of his life dating that…** _ **thing**_ **."**

 **000**

"Good morning, contestants!" Victini greeted as he and Mew floated into the stadium. Mew had a steaming mug in his right paw and his same gloomy expression on his face. "Are you all ready for your next challenge?!"

A collective, "No…" was heard from the group.

"Great!" Victini cheered, rubbing his hands together. "Now, I know what you all must be thinking. Are you all going to be kicking the shit out of each other for my amusement today?"

The others, being that they _were_ thinking that battling was today's challenge, exchanged looks of confusion.

"Well, the answer is no," Victini chuckled. "Today's challenge is going to be a good 'ol fashioned game of 'Guess Who?'. Or at the very least, _my_ interpretation of it."

"Your interpretation of _anything_ scares me," Carson stated.

"Good," Victini replied. "Now, Mew. If you don't mind explaining…"

"I do mind…" Mew replied, taking a sip of his cup of tea.

Victini gave his co-host a look of annoyance. "Just explain, huh?"

Mew growled to himself as he took out another piece of paper, apparently given to him beforehand. He cleared his throat. "Having collected information about all of your fellow competitors, this challenge will require you all to test your knowledge about their lives. So, I hope you've been keeping up with each other," he read. "There will be slips of paper attached to neon poles scattered throughout the island. Each slip of paper contains lines of text that describe what that specific competitor has done or has had happen to them."

Taking a breath, Mew continued. "Your goal is to figure out the contestant that matches the slip and find the pole that has something corresponding to that specific competitor. That pole will lead you to your next pole and so on. The team that brings back ten of the items from the poles will win."

"Oh you've got to be kidding! I barely know any of these people!" Pia exclaimed.

"It's not like we keep up with each other on a daily basis outside of this damned game!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Oops… I forgot to mention… The contestants that match the slips _aren't_ competing in this season, so… Have fun with that," Victini said.

"So… We have to go around to these poles, find pieces of paper with information that we don't know about a few others, find items _attached_ to the pole that'll be a guide, and then come back here when we have ten of them?" Sola simplified.

"Pretty much," Victini replied with a shrug.

"How the heck is that gonna work!?" Summer queried. "If we're doing this all at the same time, things are gonna get confusing!"

"Don't worry, we've marked each team's starting pole to avoid possible befuddlement," Victini explained. "Horrible Ho-Ohs, you guys will start at the volcano. Loser Lugias, you'll start here."

Victini snapped his fingers, causing a neon white and blue pole to materialize near the exit of the stadium.

"Oh that's not fair! They get to start earlier!" Cramad bellowed.

"Mew will teleport you to your location, don't worry…" Victini said with a chuckle, seeing the Ho-Ohs' annoyed looks. "Now, your challenge begins in three… two… one!"

Immediately, all of the Ho-Ohs were teleported away, while the Lugias rushed to their first pole.

 **000**

The thirteen members of the Lugias gathered around the pole, with Shine reading the slip attached to the pole.

"She has posed suggestively for a pornographic magazine after being offered three million Poke," Shine read, with her eyes widening.

"WHOA!" Frosty exclaimed in shock. "The first one in and it's already gotten lewd…"

"Well, at least this one is pretty easy…" Morgan spoke up. "Lila already told me the story, so I know that this is her."

"Wait, really?" Sola queried. "Always thought that she was only willing to let Jesse fawn over her…"

"It was _three million dollars_ …. And it was only about five pictures…" Morgan replied with a shrug. "I'm sorry, but if I was offered that much for less than ten pictures, you'd see me in a magazine, too."

"Well, that just makes Lila a slut now, doesn't it?" Taylor responded, not really caring about the conversation. "Now, can we actually focus on the challenge at hand? We have the next pole and get whatever's there."

"Taylor's right," Ashton agreed. "This is going to interesting for sure, but I think we should save the conversations for when we're done…"

"Agreed;we need to get going. If ours was this easy, who knows how easy theirs is?" Holly said as she began flying out of the stadium. The others began following her out.

"You think I should have mentioned that there's going to be a few _hindrances_ while they try to get to other poles?" Victini queried.

Mew passed him a cold, knowing look. Victini hummed to himself. "Nah, it makes things even more interesting."

 **000**

The Horrible Ho-Ohs were all gathered around their first pole. They were all scratching their heads and exchanging unsure looks. They were all stumped and it was just the first piece of information.

"Okay, what the heck is this?" Aspen queried, annoyance evident in her voice as she eyed the slip of paper attached to the pole. "He has been sent to a mental institution due to his overindulgence of pain. Who the heck could that be?!"

"Well, we know that it's a _he_ ," Klavier said sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, that _really_ narrows it down," Annie commented. "Only over _sixty_ possible guys to choose from, now."

Pia held back a laugh, amused at her team's confusion. As soon as she heard 'overindulgence of pain', she automatically knew who it was. With Brian's absence, she actually found it much easier to sabotage, as she was the only one on the team with information regarding her debut season. Or, so she thought.

"Overindulgence of pain…" Aura said to herself as she started thinking, cycling through all of the possible contestants she could think of. An idea of who it could possibly be sparked in her head. However, she needed confirmation. And with Brian still MIA, she'd have to rely on Pia, which wasn't going to happen. "I think it's that Steelix from Chase and Autumn's season. He always loved getting the crap beaten out of him."

"Are you sure?" Pia teased. "Maybe it was an Onix…"

"Pia, you can go screw yourself," Aspen growled.

"Hey, last time I checked, _I_ actually participated in that season _with_ him," Pia retorted. "So, it's best that you listen to me…"

"Uh huh, right after you try to eliminate people who are actually participating in challenges instead of the useless ones," Aura reminded. "I don't think we're inclined to believe anything you say…"

"I mean, if you're willing to let your bitterness over a legitimate strategy make the team lose, then that's on you…" Pia said, shrugging her shoulders.

The others exchanged unsure looks, not knowing if they could trust what Pia was saying or not. Aura glared at Pia; she wasn't second guessing herself. She _knew_ that it was a Steelix _and_ she remembered that the Steelix fooled around with Taylor a lot. She just needed to remember his name.

"Okay, so we've got it settled that's either an Onix or a Steelix. Can we get a _name_?" Anthony urged.

"That's what I'm trying to remember," Aura said, holding her head. She scoffed. "This stupid heat from the volcano is screwing with me…"

"Aww..." Pia fake moaned.

"Pia!" Marie snapped. "Could you stop being immature and actually _help_ us in the challenge instead of heckling Aura?"

"Yeah, you haven't exactly of any use to us lately, yourself," Anthony chimed in. "It'd be a shame if _you_ got the boot when this was all over…"

Pia deadpanned. "Brian's not even here, _and_ he does nothing but make shitty inventions, but you're gonna try to eliminate me?"

"Just… Help," Summer stated, growing exasperated at the situation. "We've concluded that it's either an Onix or a Steelix from the season you were in. How about you give us a fucking name so that we can move on?!"

Pia blinked before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine. His name is Rex and he was a Steelix…"

"Thank you…" Summer responded. "Now come on, we need to find the pole that has something connected to him attached to it."

"Well, this is gonna be _quite_ an adventure," Titan said as they all started heading through the forest.

 **000**

" **Okay, this is going poorly already," Pia said. "Instead of making Aura and Aspen look dumb, they're all still pissed at** _ **me**_ **for having a strategy. Man, for veterans, they really are idiotic."**

" **Well, if we win, I suppose it wouldn't be that bad. But, if we lose, I can easily get them to eliminate Brian."**

 **000**

The Lugias were wandering around the island in search of their next pole. On the way, despite Ashton's suggestion, they began talking about Lila and what they'd just found out.

"Wait, so she won five million Poke in a season, but _still_ decided to pose like a slut for porn?" Taylor queried. "Jeez, how could anyone even like her if she's _that_ money hungry?"

"Taylor, she's married, she has a large house, and she has a child," Morgan began. "That, along with her singing career and her constant brand deals, it makes her very busy. She still has bills to pay, groceries to buy, and her son's future to worry about. Plus, she donated more than half of the money she got from that shoot to charity since she still felt extremely embarrassed about doing it."

"Oh, so she's one of those goody two-shoes that can do whatever she wants, but as soon as she does something frowned upon, people rush to her defense," Taylor concluded. "Good to know."

"Babe," Connor spoke up. "You don't know her; I don't think you should place judgment on her based off of what you're hearing here, alone."

Taylor took a breath. "Fine…" he huffed. Suddenly, an idea came to his head as they approached the sandy beach. "Hey, Carson, Holly, and Frosty, why don't you guys get an aerial view, that way we'll just automatically know where to start heading?"

"That's a good idea," Sally agreed. "Head on up, guys. This should help us out a lot."

"Uh… Okay, I guess," Carson said as he started floating upwards. Holly did the same, with Frosty following suit as well.

Once they were in the air, Kojo smacked his lips. "So, what do we do now? We'd have to wait for them to come back and they'd have to find us if we left…"

"Well, we could talk about our own lives," Ace suggested. "If he's making us do this type of challenge based on people who _aren't_ competing this season, who knows if he'll make us do another with everyone who _is_ competing this season?"

"Huh, that makes sense," Shine said. "They _do_ recycle challenges a lot."

"Well, who wants to start, then?" Taylor queried. "Because I'm saying it now, it's not going to be me…"

"You sure about that?" Connor teased, hip checking him, making Taylor blush.

Taylor shuddered. "You realize that the more you do things like that, the more you make me want you, right?" Taylor stated flat out. "We agreed to wait until we've actually had dates, but you are making it harder and harder…"

"Wow Connor, you've _really_ got him pegged," Ace giggled.

"Hmm… Not really," Connor admitted. "I just don't wanna rush into anything. Sex isn't everything; just because it may feel good doesn't mean it's a necessity."

"Nice thought process…" Frosty commented, coming back down momentarily, causing Sally to facepalm herself in annoyance.

"Frosty, we're not starting that discussion again…" Amethyst stated bluntly, gazing sternly at the Snowstorm Pokemon, her sails turning a tint of red. "Just go look with the others…"

"Okay, okay," Frosty said, hearing the hostility in her voice. "I'll just stop talking about it."

"That would be appreciated," Sally stated, folding her arms as the ice-type floated back up. Once he was away from them, Sally let out a sigh. "Okay, can we agree to vote him out the next time we lose? He's useless anyway…"

"Fine by me," Shine said with a shrug.

"I'm not against it," Sola added.

The others started agreeing before continuing their conversation.

 **000**

" **Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut about relationships," Frosty said.**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were still walking through the forest before finally exiting through a set of trees near the cliff. It took nearly half of an hour for them to get out, as they were also looking for poles that were possibly set up in the forest.

"Finally," Lassie groaned. "I knew that looking in the forest was going to be pointless."

"Well, at least it gave me an idea of where we should start looking," Cramad started.

"You have ideas?" Anthony queried, making Marie elbow him hard in the stomach, making him grunt.

Titan passed him a glare, while Cramad rolled her eyes. "Anyways," the Parasect continued. "The Lugias' first pole was at the _colosseum_. Our first pole was at the _volcano_. And I think that I see another pole near the top of the cliff. So, I think it's safe to assume that the poles are situated at specific landmarks of this island. In other words, challenge sites and places we often frequent."

"That… Makes a lot of sense," Fez said before looking up at the cliff.

"Yeah… It _does_ …" Pia said, gaining interest.

 **000**

" **Seems like they may have more to offer than I thought…" Pia commented.**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs made their way to the top of the cliff, with Pia debating in her head whether she should try to form an alliance with Cramad, Titan, and Annie instead of Dhaunt, Marion, and Lassie, especially after Lassie's response.

The team approached their second pole, where they found a chunk of steel attached to it. Anthony forcibly removed the steel, looking over it. "What the hell did they do? Rip this off of him?"

"Eh, I wouldn't put it behind Rex to do that to himself," Pia commented with a shrug. "He's an adrenaline junkie, after all. Don't know why Taylor decided to fuck _him_ out of all of the guys on the island, but eh."

"Wait… Taylor had sex with this guy before?" Annie queried, completely taken aback.

"Uh. Yeah. That was pretty common knowledge," Dhaunt said. "At least I thought it was. I could have sworn that it was mentioned before..."

"It _was_. I guess she just forgot…" Marion said, shrugging it off. "So, what's the next piece of info?"

Summer walked up to the pole. "He was known as MILF Monthly's Sexiest Husband of the Year," she read.

"Alright, married guys…" Marie reasoned with a sigh. "How many of them are there?"

"Is this really about to happen?" Lassie chimed in, her arms folded. "It's MILF Monthly… Meaning that it has to be guys that mothers would find attractive. And while I'm not really a mother myself, there's quite literally only a couple of married guys that I would _love_ to have, and I'm sure the women who voted would think the same."

"Oh, and who would these 'couple of married guys' be?" Klavier queried.

"Dew and Jesse," Lassie revealed with a shrug. "Seriously, they're both pretty damn attractive, they're strong, they both take care of their kids, and according to blogs and confirmation from Lila and the show itself, their packages are very desirable. If a single mother doesn't find that sexy, I don't know what they would…"

"Okay, so we have two possibilities. We still need to narrow it down to one of them…" Aspen spoke.

"Well, we can always just go to the other poles and see which one has something correlating to either one of them," Fez suggested.

"And what if it's neither one of them?" Pia queried. "Not all women are attracted to the same types of guys. I honestly don't see what other girls find so hot about Jesse _or_ Dew. They're just identical to the rest of their species."

"You realize that looks aren't the only thing that can be considered attractive, right?" Aura retorted as she and the others began heading back down the cliff. "If you only go by looks, then it's no wonder why you don't have a man…"

No one said anything or had a reaction to what Aura said, but Pia knew that they silently agreed or were laughing in their heads. She clenched her fists.

 **000**

" **Fuck… her…" Pia said. "That bitch doesn't have a man either and had to** _ **force**_ **herself on two guys who didn't even want her! I don't know why she's even saying anything."**

 **000**

" **Okay, I know that I'm actually starting to change and have fun, but come on, Pia deserves it!" Aura defended.**

 **000**

With guidance from Carson, Holly, and Frosty, the Lugias found themselves at their next pole, which was located at the gazebo. There, attached to the pole, was a picture of Lila. Her rear was facing the camera and she wore a skimpy maid's outfit.

"Huh, this isn't as bad as I thought it'd be," Taylor said, lifting up the picture with his tail fin. "This is more of a teasing picture than anything. Hell, _I'd_ do something like this…"

Connor immediately blushed upon hearing that. "Well, t-that'd be interesting…"

Taylor smirked at him.

"I'll take the picture," Shine said as she used kinesis to grab the picture. She then focused back on the glowing pole itself. "Now, what's the next bit of information?"

Sola investigated. "He once led a protest against having sex with feral Pokemon and failed miserably."

Upon hearing that, everyone exchanged looks of confusion.

"Wait, someone tried to stop a talking, developed Pokemon from having sex with a Pokemon that doesn't talk or do what we do normally? That's… Kinda stupid," Sally commented.

"And I think I have an idea of who it is…" Taylor deadpanned.

"Really? Was someone in your season against that?" Kojo queried.

"From what I can remember, the Cacnea's father had sex with a Miltank and his mother had sex with a Tauros…" the Milotic explained. "I just can't remember his name; he was irrelevant, but still…"

Being reminded of that, Ace immediately recalled their season. "Donnel!"

"Yeah, that's it," Taylor said, nodding in confirmation.

"Alright, we've got that covered. Now where did you guys say that other poles were located?" Amethyst queried.

"Uh… I think there was one by the Winner's Cabin, the washrooms, and… uh… Was there one near the confessional?" Carson asked, turning to Holly for confirmation.

"Yes," Holly replied. "There were a couple near the mountains as well."

"Okay, so we need to figure out which one has a connection to Donnel…" Frosty said.

"Wait, I just thought about something," Kojo started. "They said that the challenge was just to collect ten items related to the contestants. Can't we just go around and snag items from any pole we see?"

"I don't think so," Ashton spoke up, having been thinking about a scenario like that. "He gave each team a specific starting point, so he probably wants us to only follow the path that the information leads us on. If we skip over or steal, we may end up getting confused or disqualified."

"Wait, wasn't their rule, "If we didn't say you can't, you can?'" Connor queried.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Kojo agreed.

Suddenly, a cacophony of sounds exited the loudspeaker, causing them to cover their ears. Eventually, actual words began exiting. "No skipping over poles," they heard Victini's voice echo. "You must follow the path that the information is leading you down. If you come across a pole that does not match the person you think, you cannot grab it, you have to move on."

"Well, looks like Ashton was right," Morgan reasoned, making Kojo grumble to himself. "Well, we've got the picture. Let's go check these other poles…"

 **000**

" **Also, Lila, if you're watching. Do you mind letting me borrow that outfit?" Morgan queried with a playful smirk.**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs approached a pole around the lake, as per Cramad's suggestion. A lot of them were a bit bewildered as to why this area would be a site to place a pole. They hadn't really had a challenge there at all. However, thinking about it, the lake _was_ a pretty significant part of this new island, even if it wasn't frequented as often.

Much to their surprise, a pole _was_ sitting there. It was sitting at the edge of the lake, almost like it was going to fall in. Approaching it, Titan heard bubbling coming from the water, startling him.

Suddenly, two Gyarados rose from the lake, glaring daggers at the Galvantula. Titan, upon seeing the two Gyarados, deadpanned. "Really? Is this all-"

His cocky remark was immediately cut off by an intense Flamethrower, which knocked him out cold. Cramad gasped. "Titan!"

"Okay, what the heck?!" Phill exclaimed.

Klavier quickly flew outwards in order to retrieve their unconscious teammate. He narrowly avoided dual Ice Beams, causing the grass to freeze solid, making the surface slippery. He returned back to the team, who immediately gathered around Titan.

"Dude, are you okay?" Fez queried.

"He just got barbecued by a Gyarados! I'm pretty sure that means that he's _not_ okay!" Lassie exclaimed. "How are we gonna check the pole, now?"

Suddenly, an intense beam ripped through the foliage and bark of the trees that they were ducking down behind. "What the fuck!?" Marie exclaimed as the Gyarados blasted attack after attack at them.

Cramad scuttled toward the lake, with both Atrocious Pokemon focusing on her. Immediately, she used Sleep Powder, knocking out both of the large serpents. Their eyes drooped as they aggressively fought to stay awake, only for them to ultimately collapse in the water, causing a large wave of water to splash onto the grass, the pole, and Cramad herself.

Seeing the scene take place, the others gazed in astonishment. Cramad went over to the pole and looked at the item. It was a fake piece of pie, which made her groan. "Wrong pole…"

"Any luck, Cram-AAAH!" Phill ended up slipping on the ice, falling flat on his back with a _THUD_!

Cramad moved by him. "It's the wrong pole. We need to find another one…"

Phill groaned in response, still lying on the ground.

The Parasect returned to the team, most of them still looking at her with astonishment. Titan eventually came back to his senses with a groan. "So, I got knocked out for nothing, huh? Figures…"

"Sorry babe," Cramad apologized. "Come on, let's just find the other poles…"

"Ugh… I had a feeling this was going to be tedious as all hell," Dhaunt remarked. "What was the thing attached to this pole, by the way?"

"It was pie…" Cramad answered.

"Alright, pie equals Kyle, so if Kyle ends up being an answer on our path, we know where to come back to," Annie reasoned.

"Right, so now we need to get going," said Summer, hands on her hips. "Who knows how far ahead the other team is?"

 **000**

"A rusty knife… How pleasant," Morgan commented, eyeing the oxidized blade chained to a pole.

They were outside of the washrooms, where they found another pole. However, this pole held an item that did not correspond to Donnel, meaning that they'd have to move on to another pole.

"Who the heck would even match with an old, rusty knife?" Connor queried. "It seems kinda… Weird or… Moreso concerning."

"Let's not worry about that and worry about finding the right pole. We'll cross this bridge when we come back to it…" Shine stated sternly as she started walking away.

" _Sheesh,_ _does her own man even feed her enough of his own pole?_ " Taylor whispered to Connor, earning the Milotic an disapproving look from the Bouffalant. Seeing this look, Taylor sighed. " _Sorry. Couldn't help it…"_

"Hey, you two lovebirds coming or what?" Sola asked, seeing as the two of them were still standing in place.

"Yeah, we're coming," Connor replied as he began walking behind them. Taylor followed suit, a faint blush appearing on his face at the term 'lovebirds'. Connor took a breath. "Babe, you've been doing really well with getting along with everyone or at the very least, _tolerating_ them. Please don't start reverting back…"

"I'm not, baby. I swear!" Taylor responded, getting in front of him. "Frustration is a thing. Plus, just because I say something that's a jab at someone doesn't mean it'll be taken seriously. I wouldn't jeopardize what we have. Y-You know this."

Hearing the emotion in his tone and his nearly tear-filled eyes, Connor sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll let this go, just… tone it down. Or at least keep it to yourself, okay?"

Taylor immediately wrapped around him and locked lips with him. After a couple of seconds, he broke it with a smile. "I love you," he said, nuzzling him.

Connor nuzzled him back. "Love you, too…"

"Connor! Taylor! Come on!" they heard Morgan exclaim.

Taylor rolled his eyes as he uncoiled from around Connor. "Shall we?" he queried.

"We shall…" Connor replied as the two rushed to catch up to the rest of their team.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs approached the Winner's Cabin, where they found another pole. The pole had a microphone attached to it, signifying that it wasn't Jesse or Dew. As far as they knew, neither of them liked to sing, so this was definitely the wrong pole.

"Ugh… What the heck!?" Aspen growled.

"Come on, let's go find another one…" Anthony drawled as they all began walking away.

"Well where the heck are we gonna check, now?" Lassie asked, folding her arms.

"Uh… Anywhere," Fez stated. "The poles are still all around the island. I say we go check the mountains next. If we're checking major landmarks of this island, that should be next, right?"

"Actually wouldn't that be the gazebo? Y'know, since it's _closer_?" Phill queried.

"He has a point," Marion said, stopping in place. "Maybe we _should_ go check the gazebo…"

"Arceus, I wish we could just split up…" Marie stated. "It'd make things so much easier."

"We could if we had some walkie-talkies," Klavier said. "That way, if one group found the right pole, the other group would automatically know what to look for…"

Suddenly, an idea sprung in her head. She sneered at Pia. "Hey Pia, does _Brian_ have any walkie-talkies in his lab?"

Hearing that, Pia scoffed. "How should I know?"

"I mean, Aspen and I saw that you in his cave with him and Freezeo before," Aura explained. "Clearly you _have_ to know that he has."

"Yeah…" Aspen started, catching on to what Aura was doing. "I mean, you've been spending a fair amount time with him. It's… almost like you're dating. Why don't you take us to his cave so we can see what he has for us."

Pia twitched. The thought of her and Brian dating just made her sick to her stomach. There was no way that she'd ever date him; he was a complete and total sociopathic moron. He was simply a pawn for her to control, but he was about to be captured and tossed to the side by the end of this challenge.

"Do _not_ let that _ever_ come out of your mouth again!" Pia growled. "He is a moron that has absolutely no chance. Don't you forget it!"

"Pia. We don't care. Does he have walkie-talkies or not!?" Summer exclaimed.

"I don't know, maybe?" Pia said, folding her arms.

"Hey, Brian's cave is where Macey made all of the guys screw, right?" Annie queried.

Immediately all of the guys shuddered and gave Annie agitated looks. They _never_ wanted to remember that.

"Hey, thanks for bringing that up again. _Really_ wanted to remember," Dhaunt stated sarcastically.

"Ugh, forget about it already, it was a month ago," Annie stated, facepalming. "My point is… We know where his cave is. And due to what happened, don't you think it'd be considered a major point of the island?"

"What? So you think there's a pole near Brian's cave?" Klavier queried.

"More than likely, yes," Annie responded. "And if he has walkie-talkies, then that's an added bonus."

"Okay, then we go to Brian's stupid cave. If he doesn't have any walkie-talkies _or_ a pole, we go to the gym," Marie stated. "We need to check all major locations…"

The Ho-Ohs headed back into the forest to find the Reuniclus' lair.

 **000**

Heading to LeGrae High School, the Lugias identified a pole sitting in front of the door. As they approached it, a rumbling was heard, making them take a few steps back. The ground in front of the school began collapsing, leaving numerous, thin platforms that lead to the pole. The hole was full of a greenish-red substance that was steaming and bubbling.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," Morgan groaned.

Suddenly, a pink barrier pulsated around the area, causing them all to look around in confusion. "Um… Okay, so we have to cross this death trap if we want to get to the pole. Great…"

" _Or_ Shine can just float over and get the pole for us…" Frosty suggested.

Shine attempted to float up, only to be slammed back down by an unknown force. The Espeon groaned as she got back to her feet. "I can't do it. Something's negating my abilities."

"What?" Sola queried. "Wait, Ashton, try to use Vine Whip to get across."

Ashton attempted to use Vine Whip, but found herself having to strain in order to do so. Eventually, she just stopped her attempt, panting from exhaustion and pain. "I can't…"

"Crap, so we have to do this without moves?" Kojo realized. "This is gonna be a pain in the ass…"

Suddenly, Frosty, Carson, and Holly all fell to the ground, as floating was prohibited.

"What the heck is going on?" Sally asked suspiciously, looking around, only for the pink barrier to pulsate once again. "Wait… A barrier?"

"These assholes didn't mention that this kind of stuff would happen," Taylor stated with a glare.

"And yet… We should have expected it," Ace remarked with a sigh as he approached the hole. Gazing down at the bubbling liquid below, he swallowed before looking at the path of platforms that they were supposed to cross.

The platforms were very rugged and unbalanced, with the middle of the platforms being very thin in comparison to the tops and bases. He took a few steps back. "Well, uh… Any ideas?"

Shine took a step forward to assess their situation. "Well, those platforms look like they'll be ready to topple over at the slightest gesture. We'll need someone light enough or someone who has good balance to handle this."

Almost immediately, all eyes went to Kojo, who paled. "W-Wait, what?! Why me?"

"You're an actor aren't you?" Taylor asked rhetorically. "So you have to take poise and balance classes for scenes and stuff, right? This should be a cinch for you."

Kojo groaned in displeasure as he approached the hole and the platforms. He gulped in anxiousness as he peered down at the fluid oozing inside of the pit. He turned back to the others. "If I end up getting disfigured or something, tell Summer that I love her, okay?"

"Dude, don't be so dramat-" Frosty caught himself mid-sentence. "Wait, you're an actor. Nevermind…"

Kojo rolled his eyes as he shakily made his way onto the first platform. Much to his surprise, the platform only wobbled slightly. He let out a breath of relief, but that was short-lived as he began hearing and feeling crumbling underneath his feet.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" he growled as he swiftly leapt onto the next platform. The platform began crumbling almost as soon as he stepped on it, making him growl. The Mienshao proceeded to run across the platforms, nearly losing his balance a couple of times. Eventually, with a grand leap, he made it to the steps of the school.

Rubbing his head, the Martial Arts Pokemon got to his feet before popping his back. "I hate this show so much…" he groaned.

He eyed the pole before him. Looking at the item attached to it, he saw that it was a poster. It was a lone Cacturne wearing a shirt with that had an anti symbol over the word 'Feral'. Seeing this, Kojo let out a sigh of relief. "Well, at least this is it…" he said, yanking the poster off of the pole.

He looked at the next slip of information. "She has written a novel dedicated to Pokemon that claim to be fairy-types when they are not…"

The Mienshao rolled his eyes. "Okay, so… Rilee. Great," he deadpanned.

"Kojo! Is it the right pole!?" he heard Sola shout.

"Yeah!" he yelled back. "We have to look for Rilee's pole now!"

Upon hearing that, Amethyst groaned in annoyance. "Rilee? Seriously?"

"She's the idiot who doesn't know her types, right?" Morgan bluntly asked. Ashton, Holly, and Carson all nodded, while Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Well, she's not here now, so let's not dwell on the fact that she's involved."

She turned in the direction of the school, where Kojo was practically stranded. "Kojo, what was the information about her?!"

"She wrote a novel!" Kojo shouted back. "Now can someone help me get back over there!?"

"You'll be fine, dude. Just wait there!" Carson said.

"I have the item! Pretty sure I'm required!" Kojo responded, holding up the rolled up poster.

"Crud, he's right," Ace said in realization. "How are we gonna get him back without possibly hurting ourselves?"

"Uh… We're all invincible remember?" Taylor reminded. "The only thing that'd need to happen is that he dive into the ooze and swim to us…"

"Or, _you_ dive in, swim to him, and bring him back," Morgan retorted. "I keep forgetting that these things can't critically injure or kill us. Just gives us a _lot_ of pain…"

Taylor scoffed. "What?!"

"Come on, Taylor. You've got a long body. It shouldn't be that hard or take that long…" Sally said, folding her arms.

Taylor whimpered, looking to Connor, who only nodded. Taylor sighed before carefully slithering into the large crater.

 **000**

" **Connor… You owe me," Taylor stated, his body covered in a greenish-red fluid.**

 **000**

"Well, the good news is… We've got walkie-talkies," Marie said, holding up the device as she exited the cave, followed by Summer, and Pia. "Bad news…"

"This is the wrong pole," Dhaunt said, holding a book tied to the pole. "But _wow_ , Rilee is a hard-ass toward non-fairy-types…"

"Yep," Aspen confirmed with a nod. "Ever since our season started. She was so egotistical that she kept saying that Jennifer was a grass-type and nothing more…"

"Well, now we know she's a part of this," Summer replied. "Where'd you say next?"

"Gym," Marie repeated. "But, since we've got walkie-talkies now, we can split up. We've only got three, so we'll only be able to have three groups."

"And since _Brian_ 's still MIA," Pia brought up. "That leaves each group with five players."

"Huh… Surprisingly even," Marion chimed in.

"Okay, so three groups," Marie said. "So, as self-appointed team leader, I say that Anthony, Summer, and I act as the group leaders. Any objections?"

Pia raised her hand immediately; the others just looked at her with narrowed eyes. She groaned before putting her hand back down.

"Good," Anthony commented. "Now, groups of five. So, I'll go with Titan, Cramad, Annie, and… Fez."

"Alright, I'll take Aura, Aspen, Phill, and Klavier, then…" Summer said, folding her arms.

"And that leaves me with Dhaunt, Marion, Lassie, and…." Marie sighed. "Pia…"

"You're lucky to even have me in this group!" Pia exclaimed.

"Whatever…" Marie replied, rolling her eyes. "Alright, let's go. My group, to the gym…"

"My group's gonna head back to the campground," Summer said.

"And my group's gonna… Uh… Just walk around and try to find other poles…" Anthony said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Alright, and when we find other poles, we use the walkies and tell each other the item attached to it," Marie explained. "Then we'll just keep going from there."

"Alright, let's go," said Summer as the three groups set off in different directions.

 **-000-**

"I'll be honest, Summer. I didn't think you'd choose us," Aura said as she walked behind the large badger.

"Yeah, well… You two haven't really been causing much trouble, so I thought that I might as well," Summer explained with a shrug.

"Well, glad you have the benefit of the doubt," Aspen responded. "I swear, Pia is just acting like a major bitch, lately."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Summer replied. "I'm almost tempted to just vote her off, but Brian is proving himself to be an annoyance. He isn't even here to help."

"Yeah, I'd much rather be rid of Pia than him…" Aura replied. "She's _much_ more of an annoyance."

Summer shrugged. "Fair enough."

"So, uh…" Phill spoke up. "How about that girl help?"

"Phill… I told you that you need self-confidence," Aura replied. "Your lack thereof is gonna make it difficult for any girl to find you attractive. They're just gonna end up pitying you more than anything…"

Phill blinked before looking at Klavier and back to them. "Uh… Is it bad that I'm okay with that?"

All three of the girls sighed as they continued walking. The guys exchanged looks of confusion, with Klavier shrugging before gliding after them. Phill groaned before following them.

Eventually, the five of them made it back to the campgrounds, with the girls emerging from the bushes first.

"Wow… Kojo's _that_ big?" Aura queried in astonishment. "You're a lucky girl."

Summer giggled. "Yeah, I know. Shame that I haven't had a chance to feel it, yet."

"Okay… Can we switch the conversation?" Phill queried. "I'd rather not discuss the details of my best friend's junk. I already have an inferiority complex. Hearing you girls talk about your experiences doesn't help…"

The girls all giggled as they continued to the middle of the camp, with the guys in tow. Klavier, looking around, took note of the gazebo. A pole was sitting there.

Floating toward it, Klavier noticed that there was no item attached to this pole. He let out a sigh of disappointment. He floated back over "Well, there's nothing here. So, why are we back?"

"Maybe because we didn't check the entire place," Summer replied, gesturing to the loser cabins.

The five of them walked toward the cabins, looking behind them. Much to their surprise, there were two poles behind the cabins, one behind each one.

"Did we seriously miss both of these when we found the pole with a microphone?" Phill queried.

"Apparently so…" Aspen replied as they approached the poles. However, upon approaching it, a ray emerged from behind the cabin, aiming at the Poodle Pokemon.

It fired a pink laser toward her, making her yelp and move back. "What the heck is this?!"

"Did these fuckers actually install _lasers_ for this challenge!?" Summer growled. "What is wrong with them?!"

Aura used Ice Beam on the ray, freezing it solid. After doing so, she rushed up to the pole. She saw a magazine cover taped to the pole. She took a gander at it and immediately her face turned red. She saw a Lucario holding a wrench and wearing a toolbelt with a seductive smirk on his face, as well as a Samurott holding a spatula in his mouth and wearing a white apron with the words 'Big Daddy' sewn into it.

As she gazed at it, she didn't notice that the ray was melting quickly. Noticing it, Summer immediately blasted the ray with a Flamethrower toward it, hindering its abilities.

"Aura! Come on! Just grab the paper and get the information!" the Typhlosion exclaimed.

Aura snapped out of it and looked at the pole. "He runs a jewel shop using jewels he collected from a mountain."

Immediately, that sounded familiar. "Wait… Wasn't one of those idiots from Chase and Autumn's season obsessed with gems?"

She walked back over to the others, an expression of thinking on her face. The others noticed the look on her face and grew confused.

"You okay, Aura?" Aspen queried.

Summer took the magazine cover from the Glaceon's mouth, allowing her to speak. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to think of the name of the guy who collected gyms in my kids' season. That's who this pole was alluding to…"

"Hmm… Well maybe Pia can give us some hel-LO!" Summer spoke as she glanced at the magazine cover. Like Aura, a blush spread across her face as, in her eyes, Jesse was replaced with Kojo.

"Yeah, that's the same reaction I had," Aura giggled. "They look their sexiest on that cover than at any other time I've seen them. No offense to them…"

"Uh… I don't think that's an insult," Klavier said as Aspen grabbed the cover from Summer.

"Go ahead and ask Pia if… Wow, they _are_ sexy…" Aspen cooed.

"Can we focus, please?" Phill deadpanned.

Summer shook her head of her thoughts. "Right, right…" she said, picking up the walkie-talkie.

 **000**

Kojo let out a sigh. "Thanks again, Taylor."

"Whatever…" the Milotic muttered, using Hydro Pump on himself to get the green-red fluid off of himself. "Fucking disgusting, tingly…"

"Come on babe, it couldn't have been _that_ bad," Connor replied.

Taylor gave him a look. "Tonight… I'm giving service… and you are going to take it!" he sternly proclaimed.

Hearing that, Connor rolled his eyes playfully. He actually expected this type of response from him, so he wasn't really that bothered.

The team eventually stumbled upon Brian's cave, where they found a pole with a large book roped to it. Sally picked up the book, looking at the title. "If You Claim that You're a Fairy-type, but you're not, You're a Loser," she read the long title.

The Ampharos scoffed. "Whoever dedicates all of their time to writing this junk doesn't need to be calling _anyone_ _else_ a loser."

"Well, let's not dwell on it," Sola said. "Let's just get a move on before they suddenly announce that the other team has won or something else stupid. What's the info?"

"Uh… His 'family' has grown much larger since his debut in season four," Shine read. "And, since it stands out, 'family' is in quotation marks."

"Well, it said _his_ , so it's a guy," Morgan reasoned. "Now, I'm not _that_ familiar with the fourth season, but I'm familiar with some of you."

"Isn't family like another term dealing with the mafia?" Kojo chimed in.

"Mafia…" Carson started before gasping. An idea of who this was entered his head immediately. "Giovanni!"

"Right. _He_ was part of the mob," Ashton recalled. " _And_ I think he ended up marrying Mai, so I think that counts as both of his 'families' growing…"

"Alright, we've figured this out. So now we need to find another pole…" Ace stated.

"Why don't we go check out the jail?" Connor suggested. "Since Giovanni was a mobster, maybe they put his pole near it?"

"Do you really think it'll be that obvious?" Sola queried.

"I mean… He once wasted our time with the hillbilly challenge due to the items being in an obvious spot…" Connor reminded. "It couldn't hurt…"

"Well, he may be right," Amethyst agreed. "We might as well go and look there. We may end up seeing other poles along the way, too."

"Yeah," Holly agreed. "And uh… Maybe we should just have Kojo carry the things since he and Sally are the only ones with actual, functioning arms."

Kojo shrugged. "If it means that I won't be forced into any more bad situations trying to get to these poles… Then I'm fine with it."

Sally handed Kojo the novel. He opened the book, placing the poster of Donnel inside of it just as Shine placed the 'provocative' picture of Lila in the book. He closed it before holding it under his right arm.

"Okay, now let's head to the jail and get this done," said Morgan. "This challenge is more than likely gonna take all day because of all this stupid trial and error. Why couldn't the bastard just give us hints to the next locations and do more hard stuff like the last pole?"

"Because he likes to waste our time, most likely," Ace remarked.

"Come on, let's just hurry," Taylor said, gesturing in another direction.

 **000**

"So we're going after Alpha's pole now…" Pia said as she and her group started leaving the gym. There was a pole outside of the building with a whistle wrapped around it. "Looks like coming to this stupid gym was pointless…"

"Pointless? We found another pole!" Lassie exclaimed. "Seriously, if you think helpful things are pointless, why are you even on the show?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Pia retorted. "Ever since your hubby-"

"EX," Lassie corrected immediately.

"Whatever… Ever since _Egridos_ got eliminated, you've been pretty secluded from the rest of the team. Heck, at this point I'd say that you're not even that needed…"

"PIA!" Marie exclaimed, getting her attention. The Hypno glared at the Big Jaw Pokemon. "Now is _not_ the time, okay? Let's just go find another pole with the information we need and move on with our lives…"

Hypno rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"

"Uh… Should we check around the beach or something?" Dhaunt queried. "We may find some more poles on the way."

"That sounds _great_ ," Marion said in agreement, not wanting the tension to rise higher than it already had. "Come on girls, we shouldn't just linger here and let the Lugias get another victory."

"Yeah, you're right," Pia agreed. "I mean, if we don't keep moving, these two will just end up daydreaming about getting plowed and lose their train of thought."

"WHAT?!" Lassie and Marie both seethed, glaring at the Hypnosis Pokemon, who huffed.

"Pia, you are practically _begging_ to be voted off at this rate…" Dhaunt said, folding his arms.

"Oh please. If you guys were actually smart, you'd know that I'm a much better teammate than some of these others that we've got on the team," Pia explained, folding her arms.

"And if _you_ were smart, you'd remember that Sabrina was a strong and useful teammate, but her attitude pissed us off enough to eliminate her…" Lassie reminded, her hands on her hips. "So, I'm gonna suggest that you cut the crap, shut your mouth, and just help us with the challenge…"

Pia glowered at her, but didn't say anything back.

"Good," Lassie stated. "Now come on, we should go back and check the-"

" _Guys. You said that Alpha was next right?"_ Fez's voice sounded over the walkie-talkie as Marie held it close to her ear.

" _Yeah, why? Have you guys found it?"_ Summer's voice echoed.

 **000**

Anthony groaned as he lied face down inside of a large crater full of garbage and sludge, with Annie, Titan, Cramad, and Fez standing on higher ground. There was a pole in the middle of the crater with a jewel bag attached to it.

"I think so…" Fez spoke into the walkie-talkie.

" _Uh… Fez, where's Anthony?_ " Marie asked, sounding concerned.

"He's uh… Down in the dumps right now," the Unfezant said, watching as the Blastoise got to his feet. "But, he's okay."

Anthony took a couple of steps forward only to trip. He growled in annoyance. "OH COME ON!"

" _We should have Alpha's item in a few moments, then we'll report back with the next bit of information…"_

" _Alright then,"_ Marie replied.

Fez placed the walkie-talkie back down, gazing back down at the Shellfish Pokemon. He passed a glance toward the other three, who were just watching.

"Should I just go help him?" the Proud Pokemon queried.

"Nah, let him go," said Annie. "You offered to do it first, but he wanted to be the hero…"

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure this is just gonna waste time…" said Cramad. "Just go help him."

Fez nodded as he flew down toward the Blastoise. Anthony spit out sludge that got in his mouth, making him gag. "Uh… Require some assistance?"

Anthony shot him a death glare, causing the bird to sweatdrop. "I'll… Take that as a yes."

Fez flew toward the pole, snagging the bag of jewels off of it. He then looked at the information presented on the pole. "He owns a now world-renown pie fackery…?"

"Fackery? What the hell is that?" Anthony queried, using his arms to wipe sludge and garbage off of himself.

"Does it really matter?" Fez retorted. "We have our answer already! We need to go back to the lake."

Fez flew back toward the others, with Anthony growling as he trudged back out of the smelly crater. "We need to head back to the lake. This pole leads us to Kyle…"

"Ugh… Great," Titan groaned in annoyance.

"Groan later. We've gotta go," Annie said as she started heading in another direction.

"Wait, shouldn't we wait for Anthony?" Cramad called.

"He knows which way to go," Annie retorted. "Now come on!"

The others exchanged looks and proceeded toward the lake, leaving the Blastoise, who was still climbing out of the crater.

 **000**

" **They really left me behind… Seriously, these 'little guys' need to be knocked down a peg…" Anthony stated.**

 **000**

The Lugias made it to the jail, where they indeed found another pole. However, despite their discovery, there was a problem. A very _thorny_ problem.

There were numerous thorn bushes, brambles, and cacti blocking their way to the pole.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…" Ace groaned.

"Hey, we can always just have-"

"No floating, flying, or teleporting allowed…" Holly interrupted, looking at a sign situated in front of the plants. "Well, looks like using Shine, Carson, or myself isn't allowed…"

"Hmm. Don't worry guys, I've gotcha covered," Connor said, taking a few steps back.

"Wait, what do you me-"

Before Shine could finish, Connor charged through the array of prickly plants, creating a path for the others. Taylor gasped in worry as he watched Connor charge through.

 **000**

" **Okay, I know that us dating has his confidence and bravery higher, but that doesn't mean he has to charge into a bunch of sharp plants!" Taylor bellowed.**

 **000**

The others followed the path that Connor made for them.

"I hope Connor knows that Ashton could have just used Vine Whip to carry Sally over here," Shine stated.

"How about we not say _anything_ to my boyfriend regarding this, especially considering that he just created a path for _all_ of us," Taylor responded, glaring at her.

Shine rolled her eyes as they continued walking through. As they continued, they saw that their Bouffalant teammate was heading back. He had something in his mouth that resembled a cigar, and he had numerous scars and thorns in his afro and fur.

"Don't worry guys… I got the next thing…" he groaned as he limped toward them.

Taylor quickly slithered to him, using his tail fin to lift his chin, causing him to wince. "Tay, could you not do that?"

The Milotic sighed. "Why'd you charge through here like a maniac?"

"I mean, it was _my_ idea to come here and they said no flying, floating, or teleporting, so I just thought…" Connor started, placing the cigar down before feeling a sharp stinging sensation in his thigh. He winced.

Ashton sighed as she approached. "Hang on Connor, I've got it…"

Ashton extended her vines, wrapping them around the Bash Buffalo Pokemon's horns. A light green aura surrounded both of them as Connor's scars began to vanish, as well as the thorns. After a few more seconds, Connor took a breath of relief.

Ashton released him, with him smiling at her. "Thanks Ashton…"

Ashton responded with a smile. Taylor coiled around Connor, locking their lips together. Seeing this affection, Ace rolled his eyes with a small smile. "Taylor, calm down. He has to tell us what the information was…"

Taylor groaned to himself before uncoiling, making Connor chuckle. He stepped forward. "The item was that cigar, so Kojo, ya might wanna get that…"

Hearing that, Kojo gazed down and saw the cigar. He sighed and prepared to get it, but Ashton used Vine Whip to retrieve it for him.

"And the information was about someone who became an underground singer with a lot of Spindify plays…" Connor explained.

"Singer, huh?" Sally queried. "Hmm… Who do you guys think fit that?"

"Hold on… Does finding out who it is even matter?" Sola queried. "I mean, we really just need to get the info, find the pole with the item that'd correspond, and just continue. Who it is doesn't really serve any purpose at this point other than to embarrass or pique our interests…"

"So, we should focus on finding something that deals with singing?" Morgan queried. "Hmm…"

"ATTENTION ALL LOSERS! DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS AND YOUR LACK OF ACTUAL FOCUS, WE WILL BE HALVING THE ITEM REQUIREMENT. THE TEAM THAT BRINGS BACK _FIVE_ ITEMS WILL WIN!" Victini's voice blared over the intercom.

"Lack of actual focus? What is he talking about?" Carson asked in confusion. "We've been focused this entire time."

"It's probably just Victini being Victini…" Holly replied. "But, on the bright side, that means that we just have to find one more item."

"Yep, a- Wait… Wasn't there a microphone and pole by the Winner's Cabin when we passed it?" Amethyst queried.

Immediately, all of the Lugias rushed toward the Winner's Cabin.

 **000**

Dhaunt, Marion, Marie, Pia, and Lassie were sitting around the elimination area, as there was a pole with a lone fork sitting there. Marie was leaning against the pole, holding the walkie-talkie as she impatiently waited for a response.

"So, uh… How's life?" Dhaunt queried.

As the girls all stared at him, the walkie-talkie emitted static. " _Hello? Hello?"_

Marie groaned. "Finally!" she replied. "Do you guys have the next bit of information?"

" _Yeah… And we actually got two items since the first pole we found led us to the one back at the lake,"_ Fez explained.

" _Fez… We need one more item in that case. We don't care about the venture. Just tell us the info!"_

" _Alright, alright… Jeez. It- Gimme that,"_ Anthony's voice was heard as he presumably took the walkie-talkie from Fez. " _Babe, Summer, it says 'He once hit himself in the eye with a fork after someone startled him with the wrong name'."_

"A fork?" Marie replied, picking up the fork next to her.

" _Yeah…_ "

"We got it!" Marie exclaimed. "Quick, Lassie, teleport us to the-"

"AND THE LOSER LUGIAS WIN!... AGAIN!"

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?!"

 **000**

All of the contestants were brought back to the stadium. The Ho-Ohs were annoyed, while the Lugias all held smiles.

"Alright, Loser Lugias, congratulations on winning the challenge…"

"What the hell were you talking about when you said that we weren't really focused?!" Morgan queried.

"Well, you guys were spending more time talking and marveling at the objects or traps rather than just getting the items from the poles and finding the next one…" Victini said. "And then, I saw that you guys would be here all day and night and I'd like to have some beauty sleep…"

"Beauty?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Victini retorted with a devious glint in his eyes.

"Nope!" Phill said, holding up his paws in defense.

"Good. Now, Ho-Ohs, you guys get ready to lose another player…"

The Ho-Ohs immediately looked at Pia with smirks, making the Hypno clench her fists in annoyance.

 **000**

At the elimination ceremony, all of the Ho-Ohs were there, with the exception of Brian, who was still dimension hopping, or rather settling.

"Alright, now, I'm sure that you all are eager to get rid of the player of your choosing…" Victini started.

"Ugh… just get it over with. I know these idiots all voted for me…" Pia said, rising to her feet. "You're lucky that I didn't just use my pendulum and hypnotize all of you…"

"That's just make you a bigger bitch than you already a-"

"SHUT. IT!" Victini interrupted. "Pia is _not_ going home tonight."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"HA!" Pia laughed.

"That's right. Instead, I'm going to eliminate someone much more deserving…"

"Wait, wait… _you_ get to vote one of us out?!" Aura exclaimed.

"Yep," Victini said, rubbing his hands together. "My show, my rules. Now… Who to eliminate…"

Everyone, with the exception of Pia, grew nervous, exchanging looks.

"Hmm…

…

…

…

...Brian."

Immediately, everyone there let out a sigh of relief before hearing laughter from their main host of the season. "Wow. Did you really think that I'd eliminate one of _you_ when someone has literally been absent from both the last elimination ceremony and this entire challenge?"

"Well, you guys let Striker stay second season when he got kidnapped by Farra," Annie said.

"And Nate and Aylesha had sex and slept through an entire challenge in All-Stars…" Marion reminded.

"Well that was then and this is now," said Victini. "From henceforth, if you miss two or more events and your team loses, you're automatically eliminated…"

"Wait, so if we decide to slack off from challenges… And our team still wins… We're still safe?" Phill queried, gaining an interest.

"Yes, that'd be the case," Mew tonelessly chimed in. "But it'd be in your best interest not to, since they'll instantly vote you out when you guys _do_ lose…"

"Well… This just made the game even _more_ interesting…" Lassie commented.

"Yep," Victini replied. "And, sadly, because Brian isn't here, we won't have anyone going down the Suck of Shame tonight."

An idea came to his head immediately after saying that. "Unless…"

 **000**

"Ugh… Why do _I_ have to clean the elimination device?!" Colton groaned as he scrubbed the inside of the elevator with a sponge. Victini was nearby, with Tyson munching on an entire box of waffles beside him.

"Because of this," Victini said, pressing the button.

Immediately, the doors closed, startling Colton before dropping him down. Seeing this, Tyson's eyes widened. "Um… Where's he going?"

"Oh don't worry, he'll be coming back," Victini said with a smile. "All _you_ have to worry about is not being a whiny bitch…"

Tyson saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

Victini stifled a laugh.

 **000**

" **Those assholes were close to eliminating me. And now** _ **no one**_ **will ally with me," Pia said. "Fuck. Looks like I'll have to actually law low for a while. This is going to be a fucking pain…"**

 **000**

 **Well. Brian's gone now. Meaning that he is now free to stay and roam as many dimensions as he'd like. Poor Colton, though. That's gotta** _ **suck**_ **. And yes, I know that was awful. Deal with it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	17. What a Waste

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the contestants played an old fashioned game of 'Guess Who', but with a Victini twist. Phill attempted to get help with his women troubles, but with no success. Still upset over Brian's actions, Pia vowed to get rid of him. In doing this, she also placed a larger target on her back with her treatment of her teammates. In the challenge, numerous pieces of information were revealed about the other contestants and items were collected in correspondence. In the end, after a sudden rule change, the Lugias found themselves victorious and the Ho-Ohs bid a not-so-fond farewell to Brian, who was still MIA.**

 **Who will be eliminated this time around? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

The girls, along with Ace, were back in the office of the new jail. Due to the last challenge occurring two days prior, they had plentiful time to revamp and restore the area. The carpet was now much softer; a red tint coloring it. There was a black couch, a similar black chair, and an ottoman facing a wall. There was now a decently-sized television hanging on the wall. There were two miniature fridges sitting on the floor, one on either side of the television.

There was another wall placed that allowed two-fifths of the office to be its own room. Inside of that room was a lone bed, a lamp, and a small, box television sitting on an old dresser.

Morgan, Sola, and Sally were huffing as they lied on the black couches and chairs. Ace and Shine eventually made their way over after adding a final thing to the private room.

"Mother of Arceus we finally did it…" Ace groaned as he slumped onto the ottoman. "It only took thirty-six hours…."

"Well, we didn't want Shine to just do everything…" Sally replied. "So, we brought this on ourselves by being good people…"

"Yeah… Thanks…" Shine panted, lying on the soft floor.

"Y'know… Since you're the one who brought everything to us… You can use the private room first," Morgan offered.

Hearing that, and ignoring the throbbing headache she had, Shine rose a brow. "You sure?"

"Just go for it. Remember, it's not all about sex, though. And when and if any of us _do_ decide to do that, we need to let each other know so-"

"We made the room noise-cancelling," Ace chimed in with a yawn. "So, if sex _does_ happen, none of us will hear it out here…"

"Nice touch," Sola commended, resting her head on the arm rest.

The Espeon took a breath, rising from the carpet before heading into the 'private room'. The others all either yawned or remained quiet as they found themselves slowly entering the realm of dreams.

 **-000-**

Shine felt really tired, as she had to teleport away, actually buy some of things for the office and salvage the rest from her parents' attic and a junkyard. Then, she helped move it all into the different places, causing a lot of strain that left her with a migraine.

She approached the phone, picking it up with her tail. After a few seconds, Shade was brought into the room, however, he was curled up, sleeping. She leaned down to him and nuzzled him, her head pain causing her to wince.

The nuzzle effectively woke up Shade, who immediately went on the offensive, zipping to his feet upon seeing his new location. He let out a low growl before turning and seeing Shine next to him. Thinking that he was a dreaming, he nuzzled her, expecting to go through her or uncover it as another Pokemon. Feeling that it was _really_ her, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey sweetie," he greeted, nuzzling her once more, with Shine accepting it and nuzzling back. He pulled away, resting his forehead on hers. "Something wrong?"

"No…" Shine replied. "I'm just… tired. We spent the last day and a half redoing this entire place, my head is killing me, and… I just wanted you here."

A small smile grew on Shade's lips as he kissed her head. "Okay."

Shine walked over to the bed, with Shade following suit. The Espeon ended up getting a fitting mattress with feather-filled pillows and purely cotton sheets. She wanted the private room to be a good place for resting and sleep; she quite honestly didn't even think about the possible fornication that'd be occurring.

She climbed onto the bed, with Shade doing the same. The two engaged in a brief, two-second kiss before lying down on their sides. Shade wrapped a paw around her, with Shine flipping over so that she faced the Umbreon holding her.

"I love you…" Shine yawned, snuggling into his neck.

"I love you, too." the Moonlight Pokemon replied before they drifted off to sleep.

 **000**

The idea of another double date entered the head of Summer, who insisted that Kojo get Klavier and Holly onboard with it. The Mienshao didn't really mind it, though he still found it odd.

The two couples, accompanied by Phill, made their way back to the stadium, per Summer's request.

"So, what's up, babe? Why'd you want us back here?"

"Well, Marie told me how much fun she had battling with Anthony before the last challenge," Summer explained. "So, I thought that this would be fun. And, since we're on a double date, I say that it becomes a double battle…"

Immediately, Klavier blanched. "I-I don't wanna fight you and Holly!"

"Aw… Come on, Klavier. It'll be fun!" Holly said cheerily.

"Uh…" Kojo started, a bit skeptical about the idea. "Are you sure about this?"

"What? Afraid that your girlfriend will kick your butt?" Summer teased.

Kojo smirked at her. "Nah, I'm more so worried about me _creaming_ you…"

"Oh really?" Summer retorted, folding her arms with a smug sneer. She immediately squeaked as Kojo picked her up, with her holding on to him.

"Really…" the Mienshao replied before putting her back down. He turned to Klavier. "You're in, dude."

"Heh heh… _great…_ " Klavier replied sheepishly as Holly floated over next to Summer. The Gliscor swallowed in anxiousness.

"I call referee!" Phill exclaimed, raising his paw.

"Phill… You're the only other possible person to even _be_ the referee…" Kojo replied.

"...Damn right!" Phill fist pumped.

 **-000-**

Both couples made their way to the bottom of the stadium. Holly and Summer were on one side, while Kojo and Klavier were on the opposite side. Phill chuckled, seeing the smirks on the girls and Kojo's face, while Klavier had a complete look of fright on his face.

"Alright, you guys know how battles go. Whichever team still has a person standing will win," Phill explained. "In three… two… one… GO!"

The girls decided to start it off, with Summer immediately lowering herself onto all fours and blasting a Flamethrower toward the two guys. Kojo immediately jumped out of the way, while Klavier flew up to avoid it.

Kojo immediately held his paws together, forming a blue sphere before launching it at the girls. Holly immediately floated in front of Summer, her eyes glowing a light blue. The Aura Sphere stopped in mid-air before being sent right back to the Kojo.

The Mienshao jumped out of the way before looking at Klavier, who was just flying there. "Klavier! Come on!"

"Uh… Um…"

Summer got back onto her feet, her paws emitting a blackish-purple aura, before toward the guys.

Kojo, seeing this, got to his feet and placed his paws outward, creating a large, blue barrier that blocked the Shadow Claw attempts. He turned back to the Fang Scorpion Pokemon. "Dude! The girls are gonna beat us if you don't get your head in the game! This is just for fun! She's not gonna hate you or anything!"

"You sure?"

"Yes! She _wanted_ to battle. Now snap out of it!" Kojo replied before firing another Aura Sphere toward Summer, who was retreating.

Once again, Holly stopped it in mid-air and sent it back, with Summer following up with Eruption. Her neck flames grew large and erupted sending lava and rocks in their direction.

Kojo jumped out of the way, while Klavier flew up higher. Holly's eyes glowed upon seeing Klavier's dodge attempt. A light blue aura surrounded the Fang Scorpion Pokemon, stopping his flight. He immediately felt himself being brought back down the to the ground, eventually slamming into it.

Kojo gasped before rushing forward and doing a grand leap. His left leg glowed, as his eyes locked on Holly. He knew it wouldn't be that effective, but it'd allow Klavier a bit more time to get up.

However, he found himself being hit in the side by large orb fired by Summer. He slid back onto his and Klavier's side. He growled with a smirk as he shakily got to his feet. Looking over, he saw that Summer was standing there with her arms folded a smirk on her face.

His own smirk immediately faded when he realized that he didn't see Holly. He looked up, only to see the Swoobat flapping her wings roughly, sending blades formed by the wind toward him. Gasping he covered his head, keeping the attacks from hitting him.

He let out a sigh of relief before looking back forward and seeing that he was now face to face with Summer, who had a sultry smirk on her face. He swallowed as she raised her paw, which was still enveloped in the black and purple aura. He quickly tried to use Protect, but Summer quickly swiped at him, knocking him back.

Klavier groaned as he got up, rubbing his head. Seeing that Kojo was having trouble, he sighed to himself. Now he really _was_ going to have to help. He swiftly flew over to his friend, picking him up by the tail. The ground- and flying-type's own long tail glowed white before he slammed it on the ground, causing the entire field to shake.

Summer gasped as she was hit by the numerous shockwaves created. Klavier dropped Kojo, who groaned upon landing. He flew forward while Summer was down before using Poison Jab twice, hitting her in the stomach.

Holly, seeing this, quickly flapped her wings once again, sending more blades in Klavier's direction. The Gliscor turned around and gasped before jumping out of the way, causing the move to hit Summer instead, knocking her out.

Holly gasped. "Oh no! Sorry, Summer!"

While she was distracted, Kojo fired another blue orb of energy at her, successfully striking her and causing her to start falling from where she was. Klavier quickly flew up toward her, his right claw glowing a bright white. He grabbed Holly before flying straight down, slamming her into the ground. When the dust cleared, Holly was unconscious.

"Summer and Holly are unable to battle, meaning that Kojo and Klavier are the winners!"

Kojo groaned as he got to his feet. He held his head as he saw the girls on the ground. Klavier was holding Holly. Seeing this, Kojo walked over to Summer, who was getting back to her feet as well.

"Ugh… Nice work, Klavier," Summer commented just as Kojo made it over. "You got Holly to attack me…"

"Well, that was just an accident," Klavier chortled.

"Yeah, but it still worked well," Kojo chuckled as he wrapped his arms around the Typhlosion.

"Wow, Klavier. I didn't know you could battle like this," Phill said, walking over to him. "I mean I knew these two fought rough; they both took out legendaries. But it was a pleasant surprise…"

"Thanks," Klavier said, a blush spreading across his face. Holly slowly came to, groaning in Klavier's arms. Klavier sighed in relief. "Hey, you're back. Uh… Sorry for the Guillotine…"

Holly giggled. "It's fine, Klav," she replied. "It was still fun. So, what do you guys wanna do now?"

"Well, we can go make some sandwiches or something in the cabin," Kojo offered. "It's usually always empty other than when Connor and Taylor are in there, but I doubt they'll be a bother…"

"Well what're we waiting for, then?" Phill queried as he scampered toward the stadium exit.

Kojo stifled a laugh before picking Summer up bridal-style and carrying her out. Seeing him do this, Klavier took a breath before holding Holly close to himself and gliding out after them. Holly blushed, a small smile on her face.

 **000**

"And that's why I think you should be in an alliance with us," Marion explained, placing her hands on her hips.

She had asked Titan, Cramad, and Annie to meet her and Dhaunt by the abandoned high school, which no longer had the large, disgusting pit it front of it. The trio was hesitant at first, but came to the conclusion that there wasn't any harm in talking with them.

After hearing her lengthy testimony as to why her strategy was legit, as well as her begging, the trio exchanged looks of unsurety. Seeing this, Marion nodded to herself. "Now, I understand your wariness, and your possible unwillingness to ally with myself and Dhaunt. But, just know that we mean no harm and that we aren't those people that demand that you always do what we say."

"Oh, we're not worried about that," Annie clarified. "It's just kinda sudden, y'know? We've hardly ever talked to each other besides during challenges."

"Well, maybe this could be a time for us to connect and get to know each other more," Marion said.

Dhaunt sighed before looking at them. "I mean, the most we'll be doing is just voting together. Nothing major. We'd just meet up, come up with a possible candidate, and vote for them. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay, now _that_ , I'd be okay with," Titan said. "No strings attached. We just vote and go on with our lives…"

"So… Does this mean you guys are in?" Marion queried, feeling a bit excited.

The trio exchanged looks, while Dhaunt facepalmed himself. The Gengar floated up to his wife. "Marion… They've agreed to just vote with us. Not _really_ an alliance. We're just going to be associates…"

Marion sighed. It wasn't _entirely_ what she wanted, but there _was_ progress. "Fine. it's not like our elimination choice is hard to decide anyway. We all want Pia gone, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much…" Annie agreed with a shrug.

"Alright, then this is perfect," Marion replied, rubbing her hands together. "Whenever we lose again, that bitch goes home…"

 **000**

" **Okay, why won't anyone on this team agree to be in an alliance with me and Dhaunt!?" Marion queried. "Seriously. They're pretty much fulfilling the roles of being in an alliance. Why not just make it official?"**

 **000**

Lassie decided to take her book outside instead of just staying in the Loser Cabin all of the time. She floated over to the gazebo in order to continue reading.

Looking around the campgrounds, she noticed that, as per usual, everyone was out and about doing their own things. She felt like she should be free to do whatever she wanted without being bothered by anyone. She let herself be swallowed into the book, holding back emotions and feeling the relatability from the fictional scenes. She let out a sigh of disappointment.

" _Alexis screamed before smacking James in the face. He didn't even flinch as he watched her storm from the room,"_ Lassie read in her head. "Cheating bastards…" she muttered.

"Ugh… Why is _that_ the first thing I hear when I come over here?" she suddenly heard, causing her jump in surprise.

Looking to her left, she saw Fez standing there with an expressionless look on his face. The Froslass huffed to herself upon seeing him there. "What are you doing here?"

"I got bored and I have no one else around to really talk to," the Unfezant deadpanned. "I saw you, so I came over here."

"And… No offense, but what makes you think that I'd even want to talk to you?" Lassie queried. "We have nothing in common, never _truly_ interacted inside or outside of this game other than this moment, and we each fit in with different types of groups."

"And, let me guess. You think that I'm a loser or I'm in the group with people you'd never associate with, correct?"

Lassie shrugged. "Hey, you said it, not me."

"Lassie, literally your only group is with Dhaunt, Marion, and Egridos, or _was_ with them. You haven't _really_ spoken to them since Egridos' elimination," Fez explained. "So, I guess you're in no group at all anymore."

The Snow Land Pokemon scoffed before closing her book and floating up with it. "You don't know me," she told him, holding a glare, before floating away from the gazebo.

Seeing her leave, Fez glared back at her. However, this was the start of a new conversation, which was better than nothing, in his eyes. He started following her.

"And you don't know me," the bird retorted, flying up next to her. "So I guess we're even."

"Even?" Lassie retorted questioningly. "We've hardly communicated. There is no _even_. We're on the same team. That's it. End of this conversation…"

The ice- and ghost-type continued floating away, making the Proud Pokemon groan. "You're just like Sabrina…"

Hearing that, Lassie stopped, turning back to him. "Funny. I don't remember acting like an annoying bitch toward anybody who cheats."

"Yeah, but you decide to end conversations that aren't escalating negatively just because you don't want to hear anything I have to say," Fez replied.

"Fez! We. Don't. Have. _Anything_. In. Common!" Lassie exclaimed. "What could you possibly say that'd interest me?"

Fez looked at her blankly. "I know how that book ends…" he said.

Lassie's eyes widened as she looked at the book; she then glared back at him. "Pfft. As if! This book was written _by_ females _for_ females. Why would _you_ , as a grown male, willingly read it?"

"Actually, Sabrina bought that book, read it, and then started her anti-cheating tirades after she finished," Fez replied. "Then, out of curiosity, I decided to read it to see what's got her all riled up. It was _eh_ , to me personally, but yeah. I know about it."

"I thought Sabrina blamed her attitude on her own father's cheating," Lassie replied, folding her arms.

"That was the initial trigger, the book was the thing that set her over the edge, which is beyond stupid," Fez explained. "That's why she never mentioned it here…"

"But, she was a bitch to Vixen and in the book a guy was-"

"She interpreted it both ways," Fez interrupted dryly. "So, will you be willing to maybe talk to me now?"

Lassie gave him a look of distrust and irritation. "Again. Why are you so interested in _me_ specifically?"

Fez let out an annoyed sigh. "Again, hardly anyone else is around and you seemed to be someone that I could share a casual conversation with since we've both ended relationships this season…"

Lassie stifled a laugh at his statement. "Uh. Last time I checked, _Sabrina_ ended it with _you_ …"

"Same difference," Fez responded swiftly, a faint blush appearing on his face. He let out a breath. "Look, my point is, we've both suffered some heartache, and I think that we could actually have civil conversations. And before you say anything, _no_ , this is most certainly _NOT_ a hook-up attempt."

"Good," Lassie replied, folding her arms. "If it was, I'd rip both of your legs off."

Fez blinked. "Okay, I'd like it if there was no physical threats. I got enough of that with Sabrina…"

Lassie rolled her eyes. "Whatever…" she said as she floated back toward the gazebo, with the Unfezant following suit.

 **000**

" **Eh. I need more allies anyway, and she was surprisingly pleasant to talk to," Fez said with a shrug. "The more allies I have, the less likely I am to be eliminated. I WILL make the merge again!"**

 **000**

" **Fez is comparable to a wad of gum. You can chew him out, but he's still stick around. And he's also a bit annoying," Lassie commented. "But, I can't really complain about talking to him this time. Didn't think we actually had more things in common than just the break-ups…"**

 **000**

Carson sighed as he, Ashton and Amethyst sat in the living room of the Winner's Cabin. They didn't really feel like going down to the beach on that day, as they had been hanging out there in the mornings and afternoons before challenges and on days where they didn't have any challenges.

The Bronze Bell Pokemon had actually been missing having Holly around. Sure, the four of them hardly ever did spectacular events, but just the feeling of friendship and family that they had made him a lot happier. And, with the numbers dwindling like they were, it was only a matter a time before they had to start eliminating each other.

"I miss Holly…" Carson mumbled.

Ashton and amethyst exchanged looks of confusion.

"Uh, sweetie, Holly's still in the game," Ashton clarified.

"I know _that_ ," Carson replied. "I mean… We hardly really see her as often as we used to. We see her during challenges, and sometimes before and after, but… I don't know. I just feel weird."

"You miss her always being with us," Amethyst understood. The Bronzong looked down.

"Well… Yeah," Carson admitted. "It just feels weird, with her being with Klavier a lot."

"Well, Carson," Ashton started. "Klavier's her boyfriend now. She's going to want to spend more time with him. Plus, we've had her far longer than he has, so I doubt that she's just going to forget about us."

Just as they said that, the door of the cabin opened and Holly entered, followed by Klavier, Phill, Kojo, and Summer.

"Oh, hey Holly!" Carson greeted. "How're things?"

The Swoobat giggled. "Things are fine, Carson. How're _you_ guys doing?"

"Much better, actually, now that you're here," Ashton replied with a giggled. "Carson actually missed you always being around us…"

"Aw…" Holly cooed as Phill, Kojo and Summer went to the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt the friends' conversation. It wasn't their place to push anyone, especially with what they were hearing.

"Well, I could still be around _and_ I _do_ have another new friend for us," Holly said, kissing the cheek of the Gliscor beside her. Klavier immediately blushed, chuckling sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, that'll be cool. And maybe we'll be able to-"

"Sorry to interrupt, Amy, but… Where's Frosty?"

Immediately, Ashton's and Carson's eyes went to Amethyst, who growled. "So… Much… Annoyance…"

"Whoa…" Klavier commented, having never seen the Amaura like this.

Holly let out a sigh. "Is it about the same thing?"

"Yep," Carson replied. "He said that her and Sven's relationship was more based on a father-daughter dynamic, cursed to himself since he wanted to stop talking about relationships, and Ashton and I had to keep Amethyst from ripping him apart…"

"Ooh…" Holly winced. "That's not good."

"He needs to go… ASAP," Amethyst glared. "I'm sure Klavier is much more sensitive and understanding than _Frosty_ anyway _…_ "

Klavier swallowed in nervousness. "Yeah… I'm sure I am…"

"You are," Holly attested, nuzzling him once more.

"Alright, so the next chance we get, we voted out Frosty…" Carson restated. "Hopefully he understands our reasoning…"

"Who cares if he does?" Amethyst replied. "He's just been yapping on and on about which relationships are good, which ones are just about sex, and all of this other insulting crud. Meanwhile, he hasn't even had a real relationship to know what he's even talking about!"

"Yes, he does seem to be rather ignorant of the subject, but I'm sure that he doesn't really mean it," Ashton responded, giving the Snowstorm Pokemon the benefit of the doubt.

"Sven and I have been together for almost twenty years and we haven't had sex at all!" Amethyst growled. "He knows how I feel and he doesn't want to force me to do anything! And we were the same freaking age when we met, so if I hear him say anything else, I'm sorry, but I will end him…"

Hearing that, Phill, Kojo, and Summer immediately decided to take their leave, completely stupefied at that revelation.

"Well, maybe we should talk to Frosty first and address these concerns," Holly relied. "I mean, he _has_ been trying to stop hasn't he?"

"He's trying, but failing, and I'm not gonna deal with it…" Amethyst stated sternly.

Holly sweatdropped, while Klavier gulped.

"CONTESTANTS! REPORT TO THE BEACH FOR TODAY'S CHALLENGE! IT'S GONNA BE A DOOZY!"

"Well, I don't like the sound of that," Carson commented.

 **000**

 **Amethyst groaned. "I'm usually not that outspoken or irritated, but Frosty is really creasing me with his yammering about whose relationships are based on what. It's insulting, insensitive, and just annoying overall!"**

 **000**

All of the contestants reached the beach, where they found Victini, as well as the two interns Colton and Tyson. They were standing in front of two large, steel cubes, each with a long tube inside of it. Seeing that Mew wasn't there immediately caused everyone to look on in disappointment and fear. Victini, seeing their expressions, chortled.

"Welcome to you guys' next challenge!" Victini introduced.

"Where's Mew?" Klavier immediately asked.

"Arceus and Giratina told him to take a week off since he was getting more and more depressed and disheveled," Victini explained with a smirk. "So, you're stuck with me for this challenge and the two after this…"

A shared groan, as well as a few yells of horror, came from the group. This caused Victini to laugh, while Colton and Tyson exchanged their own looks of fear.

"Now," Victini continued, gesturing to the Dragonite and Tyranitar beside him, "These two hefty homos are gonna be assisting me in Mew's absence."

"HEY!" Colton exclaimed. "I've lost six pounds!"

"Whatever…" Victini replied, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, today's challenge is going to be an homage to the waste control challenge from season one and season five, as well as a chance to make fun of these two losers' _horrendous_ first season."

Colton and Tyson glowered at the Victory Pokemon, they _really_ wanted to forget all about their first season.

"Hey, you guys' first season sucked, too!" Tyson retorted.

"Yes it did, but we didn't feature _actual shit_ in it for almost half of the duration now did we," Victini shot back.

"Today's just gonna be an all around horrible day isn't it?" Ace queried with a yawn.

"It seems like it," Sola replied, having the same exhausted tone.

"Okay. This is how your first challenge is going to go," Victini began. "Each team will enter one of these large cubes. Then, once inside, the tubes will begin streaming in a bunch of disgusting fluids. Pus, vomit, feces, urine, blood, sludge, and, if you're lucky, pure water."

"Hooray. We're gonna have to shower for _months_ in order to get the feeling and smell off of us. THANKS!" Pia remarked disgruntledly.

Ignoring her remark, Victini continued his explanation. "When you first enter the cube, you'll find numerous harnesses with red buttons on the centers. You have to put them on, as they will act as your way to leave. One press of the button and you'll immediately be teleported to the showers because I do _not_ want to smell you all when you come out. The team that has the most players remaining at the end will win."

"Wait, won't we drown?!" Aura exclaimed.

"Oh please. You guys are immortal, you'll be fine," Victini replied, waving away her concerns. "Plus, the cubes have notches that you can cling to and pull yourselves up. So drowning in shit or just sinking to the bottom won't be that big of an issue unless you actually want it to be."

 **000**

" **I hate my life…" Kojo said with a sigh.**

 **000**

" **What kind of person does this?!" Aspen exclaimed.**

 **000**

" **P-Poop… V-Vomit… SO UNCLEAN!" Carson exclaimed.**

 **000**

"Now, if there are no other questions, let's get this challenge started!" Victini stated enthusiastically. "Tyson, Colton, open the cubes…"

The pseudo-legendary couple exchanged looks of annoyance before deciding to just get it over with. Colton walked over to the right cube, while Tyson went to the left one.

"Alright, Ho-Ohs you're in Colton's cube, Lugias, you're in Tyson's," Victini said. "So, go ahead and get inside!"

Exchanging looks of unsurety are wariness, the contestants stayed put initially, but soon enough, Marie let out a sigh. "Come on guys. The quicker we do this, the quicker the challenge will finish and we can move on with our lives," she said, walking toward Colton's cube.

The other Ho-Ohs began following her as well. The Lugias decided to do the same, with Morgan leading the others to Tyson's cube.

 **-000-**

The walls of the cube towered over the Ho-Ohs, as they looked around their current vicinity. Immediately upon entering the cube, a surge of cold air smacked all of them in the face, causing them to shiver a bit. In the center of the cube, just as Victini explained, were the harnesses.

"Okay, so I'm assuming that these were all created to be one size fits all, so I think some of us are gonna need some help getting them on…" Aspen stated.

"I've got you," Summer said as she picked up one of the harnesses. "Let me see how I'm gonna wear this thing, first..."

She stepped into what felt like foot holes and pulled the harness up. Of course, as she expected, it rode up between her legs, as harnesses usually did. She put her arms into the correct hole before pulling on the straps to tighten it.

"So, uh… Is it comfortable?" Titan queried, unsure about how he and Cramad were even going to be able to put on their harnesses.

"If you enjoy things riding up on your crotch, then this is the thing for you…" Summer commented, pulling the arm straps forward a bit to loosen them.

"Well, they're harnesses, they always going to ride somewhere," Marie said as she put on her own.

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to give us just the buttons or necklaces like Life Alert?" Phill queried as he struggled to put his harness on.

"You know Victini. He wants us to feel as uncomfortable as possible, no matter what," Lassie said as she simply floated her harness onto herself. However, due to her lacking legs, her bottom half was slightly 'folded'.

"I hate this…" Aura groaned as Summer helped her and Aspen get harnessed up. "I feel like a pet about to go on a walk…"

"If only we had a leash…" Pia commented, folding her arms.

Aura growled at the response, glaring at the Hypno who, in her eyes, should not even be there. She felt that Victini made up that rule on the spot just to keep her in. Why would he suddenly decide to implement an 'absent-auto-elimination rule' after years of letting things slide?

"Pia, you can talk about wanting a leash, but you really need a muzzle," Anthony replied.

Pia tightened a glare toward the Blastoise.

 **000**

" **Currently, I hate everyone on this team. Hell, the people that I called annoying aren't irritating me that much, but their presence alone just annoys me…" Pia stated.**

 **000**

"Ugh. Just when I thought this game couldn't get even worse," Taylor groaned as his harness was tightened via kinesis by Shine.

The Espeon stretched with the harness on, sighing at the uncomfortability of the harness. She looked around to the others, most of whom she had to help with their harnesses. Visually, it would seem that they shared the same level of discomfort, as they found moving their limbs a bit unpleasant.

"Well, now I know for sure that bondage is something that D and I are never going to be experimenting with…" Sola remarking, shaking herself a bit.

"All this just to have a stupid button," Morgan said, sitting down while looking down at the red button on the front of the harness.

"Well, given the challenge we have to face, I'm sure that the harnesses are going to be the least of our problems…" Connor reminded as he just lied in wait while looking up at the tube.

"I miss Mew already…" Frosty commented with a sigh.

"I just the other team caves first," Kojo commented, resting his hand against one of the cold walls of the cube. "I do _not_ want to be in here for too long. The smell gets even worse when it's just left out."

"We may end up contributing to the waste in that case," Holly chimed in with a sigh.

"Okay, let's _not_ think about that possibility…" Amethyst replied.

 **-000-**

Victini chuckled as the two pseudo-legends returned to his side. "Alright, now each of you get to the tubes to turn on the waste," Victini demanded.

"And then we're done?" Colton queried in annoyance.

Victini groaned. "I know you just want to go ride your dumb boyfriend into the sunset," the Victory Pokemon replied. "So, no. Plus, this challenge will also be something for you two to look forward to."

"Uh… Can you be more specific?"

Victini facepalmed. "Just go handle the waste. Colton, you're hoping that the Ho-Ohs win, Tyson, you're hoping for the Lugias. Simple. Now GO!"

Both pseudo-legendaries grumbled to themselves before following the tubes leading toward the forest. Seeing where the tubes were leading them, Colton immediately smirked to himself, talking hold of Tyson's hand. The Tyranitar looked down at their connected hands before looking back up. He saw the naughty glint in his partner's eyes, causing him to blush.

Watching them go, Victini rolled his eyes before groaning. "Those two are gonna get freaky just to spite me; I know it. But, the more blackmail against them I have, the better things are for me…" he said to himself, holding a smirk.

His attention immediately went back to the competitors. "Does everyone have on their harnesses!?"

"You're a sick man!" Sally shouted out.

"Why, thank you!" Victini responded, unfazed by the insult. "However, you shouldn't say that given the positions that you and Jet tried out behind the scenes during World Tour's aftermath shows!"

 **000**

 **Sally twitched. "I** _ **hate**_ **him. No, really, I** _ **HATE**_ **him. If we weren't all immortal, I'd kidnap him, rip off his ass wings, dunk him in rubbing alcohol, tie an anchor to his waist and toss him out to SEA!"**

 **000**

Sally growled as she sat down, folding her arms. The others decided not to comment or ask any questions, as doing so would only violate her privacy even more.

"I swear, whenever we don't have challenges, he just goes through old, unseen footage and uses what he sees to insult us…" Sola commented. "It's so annoying..."

"Isn't everything he does annoying anyway?" Amethyst countered.

"True enough…"

"ALRIGHT CONTESTANTS! YOUR CHALLENGE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN, SO YOU'D BETTER PLUG YOUR NOSES, BECAUSE HERE COMES THE WASTE!"

Hearing that, Frosty quickly moved away from the wall where their cube's tube was located.

Soon enough, an awful smell began to fill the air, making them all hold their breaths so that they did not add to the waste before it even began filling the cube. Soon enough, a brown stream began oozing from the plastic tube. There was a yellowish fluid underneath it, helping it move toward them at a quick pace.

One could spot 'chunks' among the ooze, along with white bits of toilet paper. It was as if they literally connected it to the bathrooms. There were also tints of red and green among the brown sludge as it crept toward the contestants, assaulting their nostrils with the rancid odor emitted by the matter that made it up.

"Mother of Arceus, this is so fucking sick!" Connor growled as he audibly wretched. Nothing came out, but the assault on his nostrils made it so he was close to doing so.

"Climb!" Kojo instructed immediately as he started climbing up one of the set of slits that were provided in the cube.

The others began to follow suit, with Taylor, Holly, Carson, and Frosty floating upwards to avoid touching the fluids. Because of the trouble they faced due to their leg sizes, Ashton had to use her vines to hoist her and Amethyst up.

"It's times like this that make me wish that I never signed up for this stupid show…" Sola commented as she watched the floor of the cube be painted a horrid brown. She let out a sigh. "But, then I'd never have met my boy toy _or_ any of you…"

"That's the only thing good about this game. If you're looking for a hook-up or want to make friends, you're seventy-nine percent guaranteed to have either one or the other by the end," Frosty explained. "It's often both, too, but yeah. You get it…"

Amethyst seethed to herself. If she was willing to get dirty and Ashton wasn't holding her, she'd have attached Frosty right then and there. She still could, mind you, but she wasn't going to risk the challenge for a cheap hit.

"Well, looks like we're staying here until the other team concedes…" Ace chuckled sheepishly. "Which hopefully happens quickly…"

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were all sitting around the floor of the cube, as their tube wasn't pouring out sludge. It actually was, but Pia created a barrier that prevented the foul ooze from entering their space.

"You think that Shine and Carson were smart enough to do _this_?" Pia gloated, hoping to prove her usefulness.

"Maybe they were," Aspen stated nonchalantly. "Shine's smarter than you by a long shot…"

"And yet she endangers her life by being married to a killer," Pia commented. "That doesn't sound too smart to me."

"Pia, you're just digging yourself into a deeper hole with every insult you fling…" Annie commented, folding her arms.

Pia stared at them blankly before walking away from the tube. She released the barrier, causing a flood of sludge to wash into the box. The fluids splashed up onto some of her teammates, causing some of them to jump back and gag at the sudden intrusion of the rancid substances.

"PIA! If we lose this, you are so dead!" Aura shouted as she wretched.

"Oh please. This was the challenge anyway," the Hypno responded. "I was doing us a favor, but you guys insist on making me the bad guy, so fuck it…"

"When we get out of here, you are done!" Summer growled she covered her nose with her hand.

Some of the contestants began to climb or float upwards to avoid touching the brown fluids. This challenge was completely awful, much worse than first season and even worse than fifth season. And that was really saying something, as Otto literally 'marked' Archie as his properly and there was a lot of vomiting and bowel relief, albeit in bushes.

"Mother of Arceus, why does Victini love causing us so much torment?!" Fez exclaimed.

"He thinks it'll boost ratings, even though him doing this only annoys people and makes him even more unlikeable…" Cramad explained.

"Yep," Marie agreed as she kept her nose covered while hanging on to the grips with her free hand. "And just by looking at the way the tube is spurting this shit, we're gonna be in here for nearly an hour before it even really reaches where we are."

"Well, it isn't like we have anywhere to go anyway," Lassie commented as she floated to the ceiling of the cube and knocked on it.

"Okay, this smell is just awful," said Klavier, covering his face as the pungent odor wafted throughout the area.

"I'm pretty sure us just being in an environment full of methane is going to make us some of you guys lose consciousness," Dhaunt said.

"No shit!" Annie snapped back. "And no, that pun wasn't intended!"

"Wait… Dhaunt, you're part poison-type!" Titan realized. "Can _you_ do something about this?!"

"I'm not eating pus and feces!" Dhaunt immediately shouted back.

"And with that being the first idea that came to your mind, you render yourself useless…" Pia commented.

"Dhaunt, I don't think anyone here is asking you to eat the waste," Klavier explained, raising a brow,

"Well, I don't know what to do," Dhaunt replied. "I'm a poison-type, but doesn't mean that I automatically know a way to make things easy for us."

"This is the kind of thing that makes me-"

Suddenly, a whirring sound was heard throughout the cube, drowning out the sound of the pouring sludge. "HELLO CONTESTANTS! I CAN SEE THAT MOST OF YOU ARE JUST 'HANGING' AROUND AND KEEPING AWAY FROM YOUR IMMINENT STANKY-PANKY…"

"Did he just say-"

"NOW, THAT ISN'T VERY EXCITING FOR VIEWERS, NOW IS IT?" they heard Victini ask. "TO PUT IT BRIEFLY, NO. NO IT IS NOT. SO, I'VE DECIDED TO INCORPORATE AN EXTRA ELEMENT TO THIS CHALLENGE!"

Suddenly, a large screen was projected onto one of the walls. A familiar looking Dragonite holding a stack of cards was seen, looking very puzzled.

"Colton?" Marion queried.

" _Uh… Hi, I… Guess_ ," the Dragon Pokemon greeted.

"MY ASSISTANTS WILL BE ASKING YOU GUYS TRIVIA QUESTIONS REGARDING OUR SHOWS, AS WELL AS A FEW OTHERS. SO, I HOPE THAT YOU'VE BEEN KEEPING UP WITH OUR COMPETITORS' SHOWS!"

"Is he fucking serious?" Lassie said, not wanting to believe this. "He can't be serious…"

"OH, I AM VERY SERIOUS! AND THERE IS A HARSH PENALTY FOR WHEN QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED INCORRECTLY!"

"Wait, so we just have to answer questions inside of this shit box until we get tired of it?" Pia asked for confirmation.

"IN A WAY… YES!"

 **000**

Being that the boxes were separate, what Victini was saying sounded very random to the Lugias, who had just remained silent as they watched Tyson munch on a waffle while shuffling through the question cards.

"What the hell are they asking over there?" Shine queried to herself.

"Who cares? Now we have to answer questions while this box fills with garbage and waste," Taylor growled. "Can't be any worse than this!"

"NOW, HOW ABOUT A QUICK DEMONSTRATION OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A QUESTION IS ANSWERED INCORRECTLY?"

Suddenly, they all felt the box begin to tilt to the side, causing the fluid to shift along the side, leaving an unpleasant residue on the walls. A good majority of the players holding on were now on the bottom, with the sludge and waste up to their feet and ankles. Ashton's vines were now holding her and Amethyst vertically, making things extremely uncomfortable. Despite her better judgement, she decided to just lower herself and Amethyst into the ooze, being sure to avoid larger chunks as the waste somehow continued to pour in.

"This… Fucking sucks…" Sola commented, suppressing her urge to vomit.

"WASN'T THAT FUN?!"

"Fuck off!" Sally snapped.

"NOW! TRY TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THE BEST YOU CAN. AND REMEMBER, THIS IS NOT YOUR TRUE CHALLENGE, THIS IS JUST HERE TO RUSTLE YOUR JIMMIES AND MAKE YOU WANT TO LEAVE. NOW, LET THE QUESTIONS COMMENCE!"

As his voice left, the others groaned in annoyance. Now they had to deal with another crappy element of an already disgusting challenge.

Tyson finished up his waffle before looking through his cards. " _Okay… Uh… lemme find an easy one..._ "

"Please do, because this is just ridiculous…" Morgan said, shaking her head.

" _Hmm… Oh. Found one,"_ Tyson said, looking at the cards. " _How many hosts has this series had so far_?"

"How many hosts has this series had?" Ashton repeated.

"Uh… That doesn't count any of the stupid guests they've brought in does it?" Sally queried.

" _It doesn't say_ ," Tyson replied, looking at the card.

"Ugh… Well, let's see what we can remember," Amethyst suggested. "We've got Mew and Victini, of course," she started.

"Yeah… Okay, and then… Virizion and Xerneas were hosts when Victini wasn't around for our season…" Ace added.

"Yeah, and they were on All-Stars, too," Carson added.

"Okay, so that's four… Was there anyone else?" Morgan queried, looking at the others, who were still thinking.

"Uh… Does Zahku count as a host?" Frosty asked in confusion.

"No, I'm sure he's just a helper…" Kojo said, his arms folded as he suddenly felt his knees become wet. Looking down, he saw that the sludge had risen exponentially. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

The others looked down at the rising waste, as it was reaching their shins.

"Wasn't Palkia around, too?" Holly reminded.

"Five!" Shine answered.

" _It says that it's correct!"_ Tyson said. " _Nice work_!"

The Lugias let out a sigh of relief. However, that would be short-lived.

" _Now, question two. Can you name three legendaries that are currently not hosting a show?"_

Immediately, everyone exchanged looks of unsurety. How were they supposed to know that!? There were dozens of shows going on.

Just then, an idea came to Connor's head. Virizion, Xerneas, and Palkia were more than likely not doing anything at the moment, as they were co-hosts when Victini was out of commission. "Xerneas, Virizion, and Palkia," Connor answered.

" _Correct_ ," Tyson replied.

"Nice work, baby!" Taylor remarked from above.

"Connor, how'd you know?"

"Well, I just thought that if Xerneas, Virizion, and Palkia were co-hosts of this show, and Victini's actually here, it means that they're likely not doing anything," Connor explained with a shrug.

"Well, keep that brain of yours working. We're gonna need as much help as we can get," Shine commented.

Connor nodded.

 **000**

" **I'm being pleasantly surprised with Connor's usability with every challenge," Morgan said.**

 **000**

"How the heck are we supposed to know what the other Victini calls his Hariyama!?" Aspen exclaimed. "It just sounds like they're ripping off _our_ Victini and Zahku, which isn't a good thing."

"Let's not get into that and just think," Marie suggested. "Have any of us seen another show with a Victini involved?"

"Uh… I think he calls him Harry?" Phill answered with a bit of confusion.

" _Correct_ ," Colton replied as he looked down at another card. " _What is the name of Deoxys' show?"_

"Mother fu- This is why these shows are cancer!" Pia exclaimed. "They're all the same concept and have names that are _way_ too similar!"

"Should we just go for the standard or go for some stupid random name?" Aura queried.

"Total Pokemon… Deoxys Island," Klavier said with a shrug.

" _Incorrect_ ," Colton said.

Immediately, the cube began to spin again, causing a fair amount of the contestants to fall on their sides or backs onto the bottom, only for the sludge to wash over them before they got up. As soon as it touched them, they shot up, spitting and gagging from what got into their mouths and noses.

"This is fucking disgusting!" Annie gagged, as she held onto Phill, who was remaining neutral despite their horrendous conditions.

"Okay, I'm quitting. This isn't worth it," Aspen said, trembling as he normally white fur was stained a yellowish-brown. "I-I need a shower. I can't stand being like this!"

"Oh, whaddya know, she's bitching out already," Pia commented. " I guess she's a weak link after all!"

"Pia! I'm pretty sure we ALL want to quit!" Summer growled. "So again, shut your fucking trap!"

Colton was just watching them interact and was getting a bit entertained, while also gaining an annoyance for a few of them.

"Colton! Can you give us the next question?" Marie queried, snapping the Dragonite from his thoughts.

" _Oh right. Uh… Which hosts have slept together and popped bottles together, but do not acknowledge their love for each other?"_

"What the heck kind of question is that?!" Dhaunt asked. "All of the legendaries have relationship issues! Isn't everyone screwing everyone there?"

"Wait a second, Dhaunt, I think you're onto something," Summer acknowledged. "A fair amount of the legendaries that host these shows are into either one night stands and don't care, and only a few are actually in faithful relationships. By that reasoning, these hosts can't be legendaries…"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Pia spoke up. "Yes, there are normal Pokemon that are hosting shows, but saying that because a good amount of the legendaries are essentially sexual deviants that they can't suddenly gain actual love for each other is pretty dumb."

"Then how the hell do you explain this question?" Summer replied.

"Maybe we should focus on the host aspects," Lassie said, floating down. "How many hosts are couples or _may_ be couples?"

"Well, Mew is single and apparently Victini is dating Shaymin…" Titan began as he clung to the ceiling. "So that rules them out…"

"Does it include hosts who are done with their shows?" Fez queried.

"Well technically they're not hosts anymore at that point, are they?" Anthony responded, shaking a dripping substance off of him. "I swear, we're all gonna get and some kind of worms from this…"

"Ugh… Looks like we're just guessing again," Marion said. "Uh… Pheromosa and Buzzwole?"

" _Interesting, but no. The correct answer is Amber and Logan_ ," Colton read. " _And I'm pretty sure Victini just did that to stir up shit._ "

The cube turned once again, causing all of the contestants to fall or slide onto the new bottom floor, with the sludge washing over them again, this time getting higher.

"Okay, I'm sorry guys, but I… I just can't!" Aspen whimpered, her fur dripping and covered in waste.

Marie let out a sigh. "It'll be okay Aspen. We still have more players than them. As long as the rest of us are able to stay put, we'll be fine."

Aspen pressed the button on her harness, teleporting her out of the cube.

"Well, we have our scapegoat if we lose," Pia said. "Good job everyone…"

"PIA! Newsflash! If we lose, we're _still_ voting you out! You only got saved because of Victini's bullshit new rule, so you're only making it much easier for us to get rid of you!" Annie exclaimed.

Pia stared blankly at her, as the waste was now up to the Flower Pokemon's neck. "How the hell are you still in the game? You're probably the most useless player we have. And it looks like you're about to drown, so…"

Suddenly, a thread was fired from above, lifting Annie from the waste. "Thanks, Titan," she called.

"AND THE HO-OHS ARE DOWN TO FIFTEEN. THEY'RE STILL IN THE LEAD!"

"He's about three minutes late…" Phill commented, folding his arms.

" _What Total Pokemon Paradise episode was banned in certain countries for reasons unknown?"_

Everyone exchanged glances.

 **000**

"Shaymin has a Bellossom assistant, if I remember correctly" Ace said. "Chase and I happened to catch a glimpse of her show on our TV."

"Okay, what's the name of her show? Do you remember?" Shine queried.

So far, the Lugias were doing a good job with the questions, having only missed two so far. Not wanting it to reach three, they were currently relying on Ace's answers.

"Uh… I think it was Total Pokemon… No, Total _Phokemon_ … Island," Ace answered.

"I swear, these names are going to be the death of us…" Kojo commented, rubbing his head.

" _Correct_ ," Tyson replied. _"You guys are doing pretty good so far."_

"Other than fucking up twice in a row, of course…" Taylor added.

" _Exactly_ ," Tyson replied. " _Now, next question. What is the only Pokemon-type is competing in Total Pokemon: Blazing Inferno?"_

Everyone exchanged looks, unsure about whether they should take this question seriously.

"Uh… Fire-types?" Ashton asked hesitantly, not knowing whether it was a trick question or not.

" _Correct_ ," Tyson responded.

"Okay, if this the way things are gonna go, can I just leave?" Taylor queried from above. "This smell is really getting to me and making me light-headed. Plus, I haven't spent my time watching other people's shows, so…"

"Taylor, we need as much help as we-"

"YES, you can babe...!" Connor interrupted, making the others stare at him in shock. Less players gave them less of a chance!

"Connor what are you-"

"You can leave, _but_ , you have to use Hydro Pump and clean all of this gunk off of us and water down this crap, and the next time we have a challenge, you have to contribute one hundred percent," Connor offered.

Taylor immediately blasted a Hydro Pump down at the ground. Cleaning all of his teammates of the grime and sludge that covered different parts of their bodies. However, his inclusion of the water made the amount of waste rise up a bit more.

"Thanks baby!" Taylor replied before pressing the button on his harness, teleporting him away.

The others narrowed their eyes toward Connor, who looked satisfied for an odd reason.

"What the heck are you so happy about?!" Sally exclaimed. "You've just potentially screwed us over!"

"Guys, we can't die, remember?" Connor replied. "Plus, you heard him, he doesn't watch the other shows."

"Yes, but he was _floating_ , meaning that he could have lasted a lot longer than us," Morgan growled.

"And then what? He, Holly, and Frosty get a ton of answers wrong and just let the cube spin more and more?" Connor replied. "Guys, we can breathe underwater. Seriously, it's not that-"

"Hold on, hold on… What are you talking about?" Amethyst queried.

"Uh… Yeah. I learned that when Taylor and I were having… _Issues_ earlier," the Bouffalant earlier. "I panicked while I was underneath the lake during the time, but after a while, I figured out that I could actually still breathe…"

"So, we can still… Oh my Arceus, this is going to be so easy!" Sola exclaimed.

"Can we still talk, though?" Morgan queried.

"I haven't tried it, so I'm not that sure," Connor explained. "I just know that we can survive underwater and stuff, so we don't need to really panic about that."

"Connor, the problem lies in the fact that this isn't water, it's sludge, piss, pus, blood, and feces," Kojo reminded. "I don't think any of us want to breathe _any_ of this, considering the smell alone makes all of want to throw up!"

Suddenly, the cube tilted, sending them all to the ground and causing all of the waste to splash onto them, completely covering them.

Sally gagged before rushing to a corner and vomiting, all the while the waste continued pouring in.

"Oh Arceus, I'm gonna need forty showers after this…" Amethyst gagged.

"What the hell, Tyson!?" Morgan exclaimed. "You didn't even ask us a question!"

" _I didn't do it!_ " the Tyranitar defended, raising his hands. " _I was just watching you guys._ "

"Ugh… Then it's gotta be Victini," Ace growled.

"YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT! AS MUCH AS I LOVE WATCHING YOU ALL ARGUE, THIS IS STILL A CHALLENGE, AND IF YOU'RE JUST GONNA ARGUE AMONGST YOURSELVES WHILE THE CUBE FILLS, THEN I'M GONNA HAVE FUN WITH IT!"

Kojo huffed, "Well, we're fucked."

 **000**

"I hate my life… I hate my life…" Phill repeated as he banged his head against the wall, his body completely covered in waste.

"Well, now Phill's broken," Summer commented, her arms folded.

"Well it's his fault for answering wrong, now isn't it?" Pia replied.

Anthony and Marie used Hydro Pump in the corners and edges of the cube so that they could sit down in the murky water rather than just pure sludge waste. The team was essentially falling apart thanks to Pia not learning how to shut up. Marie just sat in Anthony's lap, leaning against him as they watched their teammates bicker among themselves.

"How long do you think we have?" the Blastoise queried, one arm around the Big Jaw Pokemon's waist and the other holding her hand.

Marie smacked her lips, before spraying upwards, allowing the water to rain down upon them. The others did not seem to even pay attention, as they only continued their petty arguments. Seeing their lack of attentiveness to the attack she just used, she looked back at her boyfriend with narrowed eyes. "Less than an hour, give or take…"

"This is disgusting…" Anthony said, seeing the brown water reaching up to their necks due to them sitting down.

"Yeah… I'm just gonna stand up. Enough is already-"

Suddenly, their cube tilted once again, causing them all to slide and fall back to the floor, with the waste splashing on them.

"That's it!" Lassie exclaimed, firing an Ice Beam at the waste, freezing it. Almost everyone there slipped or ended up trapped in the ice. "I'm sick of all of you guys fucking arguing! We're supposed to be trying to _win_ and you guys are wasting time arguing with a bitch who won't learn to shut up!"

"Hey, you don't-"

"Shut up!" Everyone shouted at her.

"Now, unless you guys want to mass forfeit _just_ so we can get rid of an easily ignorable bitch, I suggest that we keep going in the challenge!" Lassie growled.

The others remained silent, exchanging looks of annoyance.

"Well, I'm with her," Cramad said, as she slid over to the others. "You guys have to just ignore Pia and focus on the challenge. Colton!"

The Dragonite had left the scene, causing the others to exchange looks of confusion. Had they scared him off?

"Colton!" Summer shouted.

"Great, you guys' arguing scared him off," Annie said, still hanging from the ceiling from Titan's thread.

After a while, the Dragonite returned, trembling slightly with a smirk plastered on his face. And, seeing this expression on his face, the girls immediately knew what happened.

"Did you really leave to have a quickie?" Aura said with a giggle.

" _Hey, you guys were arguing and I was getting a bit annoyed, so I had a D break…_ " Colton replied with a shrug. " _And… hmhm… It was great._ "

"Okay, can we not talk about stuff like that?" Phill queried, coming back over. "Seriously, is today National Penis Day or something?"

"I wish it was. It'd certainly make this challenge more interesting," Summer said with a smirk.

Suddenly, the cube turned once again, sending them all to the side. Luckily, though, Lassie's ice kept the waste from washing over them once again.

"Okay, fuck this challenge. I'm down for just quitting and getting rid of Pia," Phill groaned as he lie flat on the residue covered floor, along with a few of the others.

"Yeah, I'm actually getting bored and the smell is still just abysmal…" Marion agreed. "Plus, we'd still have more players than the other team, so win-win…"

"True enough," Anthony said. "Everyone in agreement to end this shitty challenge? No pun intended?"

"Nope. You all can go fuck yourselves, because I'll just-"

Immediately, Aura growled and pressed Pia's button, teleporting her out of the cube. "Yep, we're all set," the Glaceon replied.

 **000**

"Well, that's good for you guys," Ace commented.

He and a couple of the others were able to distract Tyson by shifting the conversation to what happened when they saw Colton drag the Tyranitar away.

"Yeah, we're still getting used to our roles here," Tyson explained. "And, last time we checked, there were two different versions of our show going on, and _another_ me was the chef or something. But, overall if the shows are going well, then who cares?"

"Well-"

"AND WITH A MASS FORFEIT, THE LUGIAS WIN!"

"Mass forfeit?" Frosty queried. "Wow, we got lucky!"

Amethyst twitched. "Y-Yeah. _Really_ lucky…"

 **000**

 **Amethyst banged her head against the wall of the confessional.**

 **000**

All of the contestants were either in the washrooms or exiting the washrooms. At that point in time, Amethyst was leaving, along with Ashton and Holly.

"Man, it feels great to be clean again…" Ashton commented.

Holly shuddered. "Just being in that cube made me feel dirty. I think some of what was on the ceiling dripped into my fur…"

While the two of them giggled and conversed about the luckily short, but dreadful challenge they just had to go through, Amethyst was thinking about the team and what could possibly happen down the line. In their alliance, it was just her, Ashton, Holly, and Carson. She no longer counted Frosty, as they were voting him out the first chance they got. Once Frosty was gone, the team was rather stable, meaning that if they lost, the four of them were more than likely going to be targets. She needed to come up with a plan to counter that possibility.

"You okay, Amy?" she heard, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" The rock- and ice-type replied, turning to them.

"You just seem deep in thought is all…" Ashton explained. "I thought something was wrong."

"No, I'm just… Thinking about how our chances are limited unless we do something," she explained.

Hearing this, the other two froze, while Amethyst continued walking. The Amaura felt herself be lifted up by her waist. She looked back at the girls before finally being placed down by Ashton.

"What do you mean, Amy?" asked Holly.

Amethyst sighed, looking at her friends. "When we get rid of Frosty, that'll leave just the four of us in our alliance. And when Frosty's gone, the team will be stable. Meaning, that if we lose, _we_ may end up getting the boot sooner rather than later."

"Wait, how do you know this?"

"Because this team is separated into alliances," Amethyst explained. "There's us, Connor and Taylor, and then Morgan, Ace, Shine, Sola, and Sally."

"What about Kojo?" Holly inquired.

"He's the only one who, as far as I know, doesn't have an alliance," Amethyst explained. "At least on this team."

"So, how do you know they won't just go for Connor, Kojo, or Taylor?"

"Because it's obvious," Amethyst replied. "Connor handles the heavy stuff, Taylor is our only water-type, and Kojo has acting and hillbilly in his blood at this point, so he's a good asset. Meanwhile, we've barely done anything useful other than act as support for them. I'm pretty sure that they'll cut us loose as soon as we lose after Frosty's gone."

"They're two separate alliances, Amy," Ashton said. "I don't think they'll be voting the same…"

"Which means… We can ask them to help us in the votes," Amethyst finished. "At this point, I think it's obvious that the five of them are going to make it further than us. So we should stop them in their tracks and get them before they can get us…"

"Amethyst… Isn't that a bit… Skeevy?" Holly asked. "I mean, I know that this game can be played any way, but… Doesn't that seem a bit… Weird?"

"Uh… No, not really," Amethyst replied, confused at why she was feeling that way. "We're just gonna ask Connor and Taylor, or maybe even Kojo, to help us with voting fair and square. We're not gonna do anything rash or mean."

"Hmm… Well, when you put it that way, I suppose it's okay," Holly replied.

Amethyst nodded as the three of them continued back to the Winner's Cabin. Leaving, a figure slithered out of the bushes without a sound. The Milotic watched the three of them with a smirk.

 **000**

" **It would seem that the Alliance of Nobodies is going to try to take out the big girls of the team," Taylor chuckled. "Well, I'm sure that Connor and I will be more than happy to help. But, why not play both sides and get people from both alliances eliminated back-to-back?"**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were sitting at their third elimination in a row. However, none of them were upset. In fact, a majority of them were happy. The only disgruntled expression came from Pia, who was appalled by her team's behavior.

"Wow, three in a row. Pathetic," Pia commented, folding her arms. "I can't believe you guys decided to forfeit a challenge that we had a numbers advantage just to try and eliminate me…"

"Pssh. What do you mean _try_?" Aspen replied. "Your ass is definitely gone this time. Unless Victini decides to pull more bullshit."

"No, that most definitely will not be the case this time around. The votes are in, and… Since you guys are this desperate, I'll cut to the chase. Pia, you're out, because it seems that everyone here has voted for you, even yourself."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with," Pia said, rising to her feet. "But first, let me say this. You people are the dumbest people to have ever competed on this show. There are numerous times that you could have taken out larger threats and likened your chances of actually making it to the merge. And, even if you didn't want to do this, nearly every single person on this team is completely useless!"

The others exchanged looks of boredom, tuning out what she was saying.

"You've decided to eliminate an intellectual who had an actual strategy and keep losers like Phill, Klavier, and Dhaunt, who literally can't do shit to help the team in any way unless being virgins or lazy is somehow considered useful…" she continued. "Summer is in a relationship with someone on the other team, and could be passing along information for all we know given how often they're alone together…"

Summer's neck erupted in flames immediately. "Were you _spying_ on us?!"

"Oh please, the fact that you're so defensive about it proves your guilt!" Pia replied. "It was a general observation that _anyone_ on this island can see!"

"Then we've got the two useless slut-slash-bitches, who are going to float on by just because they're 'becoming better people'", Pia mocked. "Bullshit. These two aren't going to do shit."

"Victini, can you just get rid of her already?" Marie drawled. "We're not trying to hear her tirade…"

"Nah. This is fun for me," he replied.

"And that is why you're the absolute worst host in the history of all of these shows. You're crude, rude, psychotic, sadistic, insensitive, idiotic, ignorant, and all of your challenges that you do are disgusting and rely on us being in pain to actually work," Pia responded. "You're boring, lazy, and it's no wonder why you're considered lower than a trillion pound pile of actual shit, a quadrillion pound mound of dirt, and Blacephalon as the worst host ever. Seriously, you are just a sad, sad, legendary who thinks that hurting others makes you a badass and cool. Well newsflash, it doesn't. And I'm so glad that the conspiracy about multiverses is true, because I would _hate_ to think that _you_ are the only Victini that this universe has…"

Everyone there had a look of complete and utter shock on their faces. She had completely _owned_ Victini. As they turned to their host, they saw that he actually showed a bit of hurt on his face. "Pia… Leave."

"Oh, what? Now the apathetic piece of shit suddenly gains feelings when a mere mortal Pokemon calls him out on his bullshit?"

"GET TO THE ELIMINATION DEVICE!" He demanded, anger evident in his voice. This caused everyone else to jump in fright.

"Pssh. Whatever," Pia replied as she went to the dock.

Taking a moment to compose himself, the Victory Pokemon floated behind her without saying a word. The Ho-Ohs were still too in shock to move. Not only had Pia owned Victini, but Victini actually reacted to it… _and_ scared them!

"Uh… Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable now?" Dhaunt queried, looking around.

 **-000-**

Pia stepped into the Suck of Shame, with her arms folded. "Stupid lousy- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Victini didn't skip a beat, pressing the button that dropped her down. He let out a sigh. Just then, he heard footsteps approaching and saw Tyson approaching.

"Hey, uh Victini. You said that we were hoping for different teams to win for some reason. Uh… Because my team won, what do I get?" the Tyranitar queried.

Looking at him, Victini was about to say something, but instead, he held out his hand. Seconds later, a check popped into his hand.

He handed it to Tyson, whose eyes widened. "Fifty bucks?! Whoa! This is awesome! Thanks, dude!"

The Tyranitar giddily headed back to his and Colton's small trailer, while Victini teleported away without another word.

 **000**

 **And… there we have it. We have Pia getting eliminated AND a roast to Victini that… Actually seemed to eat at him, strangely enough. Weird. But anyways, Pia's gone, and everyone is happy now. Amethyst is concocting a plan, and Taylor may screw it up, Fez and Lassie interacted awkwardly, which is always fun, and we have collaborations from Dhaunt and Marion and Titan's trio. Who knows what will happen next!? Well, I do of course, but you know. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	18. The Yolk's On You!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the competitors had to deal with another** _ **crappy**_ **challenge created by Victini. With Mew MIA for a week due to stress, Victini decided to kick off the start of an awful three challenges with an homage to seasons one and five of the show: waste endurance. Placed inside large cubes, the contestants had to try to last while their cubes were filled with putrid fluids** _ **and**_ **answer questions. In the end, due to consistent annoyance, the Ho-Ohs decided to forfeit, getting rid of Pia once and for all, but not before telling off her team and delivering one of the most savage roasts ever on Victini, leaving everyone in shock.**

 **Twenty-seven remain, and things are bound to be more insane. Let's find out what happens this time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

In the Hall of Origins, Mew popped his back as he floated out of his bed with a deadpan expression. He had decided to take a couple more days off after his initial week to see if he actually felt ready to go back to the show. He knew that the contestants would be ecstatic to see him back after a full week of Victini, but he just felt hollow being back in the show.

In the back of his mind, he wanted to be there and actually make things fun, but on the other hand, he was just so burnt out and knew that the contestants still harbored hatred and only considered him 'the lesser of two evils', especially since _he_ was the original aggressor and sadist of the show. He sighed to himself as he entered the kitchen.

As soon as he entered, however, he felt his tail be tugged.

"Hey, I'm not into this kind of-" Mew looked back, only to see that it was Celebi pulling him. "Uh… What are you doing?"

The pink feline's ex didn't respond, continuing to drag him. Knowing that she wasn't going to respond at that point, Mew sighed, deciding to let it happen.

Soon enough, Mew found himself being dragged toward Arceus and Giratina's room. He was still being dragged, but he could still tell by the direction they were going. He groaned to himself. "If you're taking me to Arceus and Giratina's room, you can let me go. I can float there, myself…"

Celebi didn't respond, choosing to continue dragging the feline. Once she reached the large double doors that led to their room, she used her free hand to knock on the door. Mew floated up, dusting himself off before snatching his tail from her. It seemed that no matter what, she would always be up for causing him discomfort over simple things.

The doors opened, and Celebi kicked the New Species Pokemon insides, making him land face first on the glossy floor. He lifted his face up with a sigh. "Why must people hurt me around here?" he queried to himself.

Seeing the pink feline on the ground, the alpha couple exchanged glances before Giratina hummed. "Uh, you okay down there?"

Mew floated back up, dusting himself off. He deadpanned, "Not necessarily. I was just dragged about forty feet to get to your door and then kicked in here by Celebi."

Arceus sighed, turning to Giratina, "Remind me to get Latias to relay messages from now on."

The Renegade Pokemon nodded, as Arceus turned back to the New Species Pokemon. Mew took a deep breath, folding his arms, "So, what was it that you guys needed?"

"Well, with regards to you and Victini's show, it seems that Victini has decided to not host the remainder of the season and instead come back for the finale only," Arceus explained.

Upon hearing that, Mew twitched. He was abandoning him _again?!_ Sure, things were always a thousand times better with him being absent, but Mew did not even want to do this season!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's the one who wanted to do this season in the first place! Now all of a sudden he wants to just stop hosting? He can't just leave me there! I didn't even want the season!"

"Yes, we know. He stopped hosting last week. Pretty much the same day you started your vacation. However, we are going to give you this ultimatum," Giratina began. "You can either just continue with the season with Virizion and Xerneas and actually try to have fun with it instead of being depressed, _or_ you can end the season, send everyone home and make everything that Victini did to them worth nothing."

Mew stared blankly at the two of them before groaning in agitation. "Darn it! Why the heck am I so nice!?"

He floated out of the doors, causing Giratina to chuckle and Arceus to kiss him on the cheek.

 **-000-**

Mew grumbled to himself as he floated towards the rooms. In the back of his mind, he felt relieved that Victini was no longer going to be involved, but on the other hand, he felt irritated that he would have to handle most of the hosting on his own again, like in All-Stars. At the very least, he was ecstatic that he was going to have Virizion and Xerneas back. Not only were the two of them extremely attractive, they were actually nice and sincere.

Knowing where to find them, he floated toward Cobalion's room. The Grassland and Life Pokemon usually resided in the steel- and fighting-type's room. The two of them were stuck to him like glue. It was to the point where the two girls catered to his every whim, when he never asked for anything. As a result, the others hardly ever saw him leave his room.

Knocking on the door, Mew let out a sigh, looking around the vicinity. He heard a groan and soon enough the door opened, revealing a disgruntled blue antelope-goat, who glared down at the smaller pink feline.

"Oh, uh… Hey there Cobalion," Mew greeted, feeling a pang of nervousness from the Iron Will Pokemon's fierce glare.

"What do you want?" Cobalion asked gruffly.

Mew cleared his throat. "Uh, I was wondering where Virizion and Xerneas were. I expected them to be hanging out in here…"

"I told them to give me a week off. They're hot, but I don't need to be coddled 24/7 like an infant," Cobalion explained.

"Well, do you know where they are, then?"

Cobalion gave him a look. "If they're not in here, then where do you think they are?"

Mew sighed, "In their rooms?"

"Good job," Cobalion replied before slamming his door, making Mew flinch.

The steel- and fighting-type Pokemon was always a hardass, especially in comparison to the failure of a Cobalion from the other universe. It was so irritating trying to deal with him, especially when Virizion and Xerneas were involved.

The New Species Pokemon floated a couple of doors down to the right, which was Virizion's room. He pressed an ear against the door and heard what sounded like noise coming from the television inside. Knocking on the door, he floated back and waited for the Grassland Pokemon to answer.

Eventually, the grass- and fighting-type antelope answered the door. Upon seeing Mew there, she grew surprised, as the two hadn't talked in a long while.

"Oh, uh… Hi Mew," she greeted. "What's up?"

Mew let out a sigh. "Well, once again Victini has left me hung out to dry and I need co-hosts again. And you and Xerneas are pretty awesome at it. Plus, you're actually nice to me, so… Are you up for it?"

Virizion gave him a soft smile. "Alright, hon. Don't worry. Xerneas and I have you covered."

She looked back into her room, causing confusion on Mew's part. "Xerneas, come on. Mew needs us for the show again!"

A few seconds later, another groan was heard from inside of the female Sword of Justice's room. Soon enough, a blue and black deer approached the doorway. Mew rose a brow.

"Wait, are you two-"

Immediately, the two girls exchanged looks, blushing a bit before looking back at the New Species Pokemon with narrowed eyes.

Getting this response, Mew sweatdropped, "Okay, I'll take that as a yes and a no, considering you girls' situation with Cobalion."

Wanting to move the conversation along, Xerneas cleared her throat, "So, do you have the challenge for today?"

"Yeah, Victini made sure to give me a copy of a list of all of his challenges. But, since he's not hosting anymore, we're gonna have to spruce some of these up and actually make things _enjoyable_ or at the very least not completely horrid," Mew explained.

Xerneas shrugged, "Fine by me."

Virizion nodded in agreement, "Same here."

Mew took a breath. "Well, let's get going. We don't want to keep them all waiting. Though, I'm pretty sure that they're happy that they've gotten a week off."

 **000**

Dhaunt and Marion sat with Titan's group at their usual location near the lake. Throughout the week, the two groups eventually decided to officially join forces and actually became pretty good friends. Eventually, it came to a point to where they decided to reintroduce the ghostly couple to their mentor of the island.

"Wow, I can't believe that you're not really crazy, Clay," Dhaunt commented.

"Yep," the Imitation Pokemon replied. "Best way to get out of the game. When Victini's in charge, you know things are going to be bad, so it's better to just get out while you can."

"Well, Victini essentially said that he was going to be giving us a horrible time in Mew's absence, but ever since Pia ranted about how he's essentially scum of the Earth and how nobody loves him, he hasn't come back, and today's supposedly when Mew's supposed to be coming back," Marion explained.

Clay chuckled, "Wow, he jumped ship over something _Pia_ said? That's pretty pathetic. Though, I'd be nervous if I was still in the game."

"How come?" Annie asked, her arms folded. "Maybe Pia was able to get the sadist to actually become a decent Pokemon."

"Sure, but this _Victini_ we're talking about," Clay explained. "I'm pretty sure that he won't take a rant like that lightly. He may very well be planning a ton of challenges that will make your time here even worse than it already is. And _all_ because of what Pia said."

"It could honestly be either or," Cramad chimed in. "It could either be a change for the better or for the worse, and we'll have to deal with it either way."

"Well, let's hope it's not the latter," Titan responded. "Life here is already as tense and annoying as it is."

Seeing an opening, Marion spoke up, "Maybe now's a good time to actually try and discuss who we vote off next."

The others gazed at her; she had been bothering about figuring out who they should eliminate for a while and it was getting rather annoying.

Annie sighed, "Marion. Seriously, you've tried to get us to talk about this every day for the past week. Don't you think it's better to just wait until someone screws up a challenge before we decide randomly?"

"Actually, as annoying Pia was, she had a bunch of good points," Marion countered. "Summer dating Kojo could be a problem, Phill and Klavier _are_ pretty useless, and Aura and Aspen are getting glazed over just because they're suddenly being nice and tolerable."

"She also mentioned Dhaunt being lazy, along with Klavier and Phill, so does that mean she's right in that sense, too?" Titan queried.

Dhaunt shrugged, "Yeah, she's right. I honestly don't care that much anymore."

"See Marion, it doesn't really matter," Cramad said. "Your own husband doesn't care and he was cited as a fellow useless player. All of what Pia blabbed on about was just her irrelevant opinion. Kojo and Summer dating isn't doing anything to affect us negatively, we're just as 'useless' as Klavier and Phill, and Aura and Aspen are actually being helpful and trying."

Annie nodded, "Essentially, with Pia gone, our team isn't toxic and it won't be easy to eliminate anyone. So, let's just hope that we win these challenges are worry about elimination when the time comes, okay?"

Hearing all of that, Marion let out a sigh, "Alright. Fine."

Eventually, Mew's voice rang out throughout the island from the loudspeaker, "ALL CAMPERS REPORT TO THE BEACH FOR TODAY'S CHALLENGE!"

"Yes! Mew's back!" Dhaunt cheered.

Clay rose a brow, "Wait, isn't Victini supposed to be the main host? Why's Mew announcing the challenge?"

Titan shrugged, "Mate, I honestly couldn't care less. As long as he's back, everything is decent."

 **000**

Mew, Virizion, and Xerneas stood in the usual area of the beach. Mew let out a sigh as the three of them waited for the competitors to arrive, "Well, there's no doubt that the competitors will be ecstatic that Victini's gone."

Virizion giggled, "And I'm sure that some of the guys will be eye-banging us."

"Eh, you girls are attractive. Not really gonna be shocked if it happens," Mew shrugged.

Within ten to fifteen minutes, all of the campers made it to the beach. Upon seeing Mew, along with Virizion and Xerneas, a mix of shocked expressions and joyful smirks were etched on the faces of the remaining competitors.

Expecting this, Mew let out a sigh, "Hello competitors. As you can see, Victini is not with me at this moment. Instead, I'm here with Virizion and Xerneas. I'm sure you all have seen them before."

A majority of the contestants nodded, with Phill being the one to respond, "Yep. The hotties obsessed with Cobalion."

The girls narrowed their eyes at the group.

"Seriously, there's more to us than just that," Xerneas responded. "But, at least we aren't garnering any hatred from you guys."

"Why would you? You guys aren't Victini or really like him in any way," Ace chuckled.

Virizion giggled, "Well, lucky for you guys, Victini is now out of commission until the finale. Meaning that we'll the ones working alongside Mew."

Immediately, an eruption of whoops and cheers came from the group, with the girls exchanging smiles and Mew chuckling to himself. He was still a bit iffy about the whole 'continuing to host' thing, but given the reactions, he felt a bit of pride.

Taking a breath, Mew spoke, "Alright, now that you all are here, it's about time for you guys' next challenge. And, in an homage to all of egg-related challenges, we bring to you… Well… Another one."

Fez rose a brow, "Oh, we're still doing the homage things even though _Dictini_ is gone?"

"That's what the challenges have been based off of, so why not?" Mew replied.

"Plus, it gives Virizion and I a base for when _we_ want to suggest challenges," Xerneas added. "Speaking of…"

She turned to Virizion with a smile, "You wanna explain what they'll be doing, hon?"

Virizion returned the smile," Alright." She turned to the remaining competitors, "This challenge will be split into three main parts. However, only two groups will be needed. One group will go with Xerneas and participate in one challenge, and the other group will be with me and Mew and participate in the other challenge."

"Do we get to know what the challenges are, first?" Connor queried, a bit hesitant.

"Nope. There's gonna be a bit of a surprise to this," Virizion replied. "But, don't worry, it's not gonna be a complete cringefest."

Xerneas nodded her head in agreement, "Right. So, go ahead and separate into two groups, and we'll continue once you're done."

The others exchanged looks before separating into their teams.

 **-000-**

"Alright, I'm loving this a lot more now," Phill commented, rubbing his paws together. "No more Victini means no more awful challenges."

Cramad shook her head, "Actually, no. That just means that everything will be toned down. Mew has a tendency to do challenges that are either boring or just less dangerous than the ones Victini put us through."

"Hey, I'll take boredom and less danger over Victini level challenges," Aspen spoke up.

Marie wanted the others to retain their focus, "Okay, I know we're all glad that Victini will be out of commission for the next months, but let's focus on the challenge, huh?"

"Agreed," Anthony said, folding his arms. "So, who is going with who?"

"Well, let's just not have all of the 'strong' players participate in one challenge and have all of us 'lesser' players do the other this time," Annie commented, giving them all a look.

Summer sighed. "Guys, _don't_ let what Pia said get to you now. That was a week ago and she was full of hate and toxicity."

Lassie rolled her eyes, "Yes, we know. Now, who's going with Mew and Virizion and who's going with Xerneas?"

"Well, there are fourteen of us, so seven of us can do one challenge and the others can do the other," Klavier explained.

Phill's eyes lit up, "I call Group Xerneas!"

"Uh… Okay?" Lassie replied. "Any reason?"

"Well, once again we don't really know the challenge in specific, just that it's egg-related, so we don't know what'll be better or worse," Dhaunt presumed. "So, maybe he's just guessing."

"Hmm… Nah, I just think she's really hot," Phill responded.

"Well, that amounts to nothing," Aura sighed. "But, I guess I'll go with Xerneas as well. It couldn't hurt."

Marie hummed, "Well, since Xerneas is going to be alone, I think we can safely assume that her challenge will be minor or at least not as difficult as Virizion and Mew's…"

Lassie huffed, "I'll take that, then. Might as well have an unofficial leader for the Xerneas group."

Hearing that, Summer rose a brow, "If that's gonna happen, then I might as well go with Xerneas, too. Then, Marie and Anthony can handle the Mew and Virizion group."

"Okay, so we've got Phill, Aura, Lassie, and Summer going with Xerneas' challenge. We need three more," Marie elucidated. "Anyone else wanna volunteer?"

Titan hummed, "Cramad, Annie, you guys go with them, too. Not doubting you girls' skills, but if there's a chance that one challenge will be more simple, you both should be the one taking that one."

"Not even gonna argue with that," Annie giggled, while Cramad remained silent.

The Parasect gave the EleSpider Pokemon a look. She loved him, but she despised how he assumed that she wouldn't be up for challenges. She was definitely going to have to talk to him about that, but she also felt that they were spending too much time together, so this was fine, for now. She sighed, "Whatever…"

"Okay, and if there aren't going to be any more volunteers…"

"I'll do it!" Marion chimed in.

Cramad and Annie rolled their eyes. They would have to hope that Marion didn't act like a nutjob when it comes to whatever the challenge was.

"Alright, so you seven will go with Xerneas, and the rest of us will deal go along with Virizion and Mew," Anthony confirmed with a nod.

"Sounds good," Klavier shrugged.

 **-000-**

"Okay, so, who's going to go with who?" asked Morgan. "We don't want to force anything since this seems to be the start of a calmer season."

Seeing her chance, Amethyst immediately chimed in, "Um… Carson, Ashton, Holly, and I can go with Xerneas. And… Connor and Taylor can come with us."

Hearing that, a small smile formed on Taylor's lips. Looking down at Connor, he slowly snaked himself around him, "Fine by me."

Connor was a bit surprised at the Amaura's decision, but he decided to shrug it off. If Taylor was fine with it, what could- Actually that made him more skeptical. But, despite his better judgment, the Bouffalant decided to go along with it. Shrugging, he responded, "Alright, I guess."

"Um… I'll join in, too, I suppose," Frosty spoke, feeling a bit left out from Ashton and her group.

Amethyst twitched, her sails turning a faint red color.

"Alright, the seven of you will go with Xerneas, and the rest of us will do Virizion and Mew's challenge," Morgan concluded.

The others nodded, with Amethyst silently seething at the fact that Frosty was in her group.

 **000**

" **WHY?!" Amethyst exclaimed. "Just why!?"**

 **000**

Everyone returned in front of the three hosts. Seeing this, Xerneas nodded, "Everybody all set?"

"Yep," Morgan nodded.

"Pretty much," Marie replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright then," Xerneas said before suddenly leaning down and locking lips with Virizion momentarily, surprising not only Mew, but the contestants as well.

The ladies broke the kiss, ignoring the looks they were getting from the others. "Have fun~" Virizion giggled.

Xerneas giggled in return before turning to the others, a couple of whom were still awestruck by the kiss, "Alright, all those who are coming with me, let's head to the gazebo."

Given their experience with this scenario, a few of the ones who were going with Xerneas gained nervous looks. The fourteen players followed the deer toward the gazebo, leaving the remaining thirteen players on the beach with the remaining hosts.

Still recoiling from what he'd just seen, Anthony cleared his throat, "Uh, quick question. How often is that going to be happening so-?"

His question earned him an elbow to the chest by Marie, who glowered at him. He rubbed his chest. "I enjoy it! You can't stop me!"

Marie gave him a look.

Virizion blinked, looking to Mew, who let out a sigh, "Okay, you guys already know that the challenges are going to be egg-related. So, you should know what type of challenge to expect."

Shine gave him a look, "Searching?"

"Precisely," Mew responded with a firm nod. "Now, there are ten eggs in total hidden somewhere around the island, five for each team. Your team must find five of those eggs, and bring them back here. After we confirm that all of your eggs _and_ teammates are accounted for, you must rush up the cliff and place the eggs into your corresponding nests. And, they must be brought up one at a time."

"In addition, the eggs that you must find will likely be guarded by its mother or father," Virizion added. "This may make things very easy for you, but it also makes procuring the eggs much harder."

"Are the eggs real?" Dhaunt queried. "And if they are, what if one hatches?"

"They _are_ real," Mew answered.

Virizion chimed in, "And if the egg hatches, you simply have to make sure that you safely get the newborn to the nest. All of the eggs and possible children will immediately be given back to their parents once the challenge is over."

"Any more questions?" Mew asked.

The contestants exchanged looks, not responding.

Mew nodded, pulling out an airhorn. "Alright, since there are none. Your challenge starts… NOW!"

Mew pressed the button on the airhorn, causing the sound to blare out. Immediately, the contestants rushed away to begin their search.

 **000**

Xerneas lead the group to the gazebo, which looked surprisingly bigger than usual. It was much wider than usual _and_ there was alarge transparent tarp over it, functioning as an insulator to keep bugs and birds from entering at any time.

Everyone entered the tarped area, stepping up onto the concrete floor. They noticed that the tables were no longer lined horizontally, the tables were lined up vertically, effectively separating the elongated structure into two separate areas. They also noticed that there was both a refrigerator and a stove on either side.

Xerneas turned to the others, "Alright, welcome to your challenge. As you can probably already guess, you all will be doing some cooking."

Marion blanched, "Cooking?"

"Yep," Xerneas replied.

The Banette shuddered.

 **000**

" **Whenever I try cooking, something ends up catching on fire," Marion explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "So… Maybe this wasn't the brightest decision I've made."**

 **000**

"Now, unless your culinary skills are lacking, this challenge should be a cinch," Xerneas explained. "You must prepare five different egg dishes and prepare them for judging by Zahku!"

Just as she explained that part, the aforementioned Hariyama approached the gazebo. "Zahku is here."

Xerneas blinked, "Uh, Zahku. You're a bit too early. You're supposed to wait until I call you…"

"So Zahku can return to his man cave?"

"Uh… Yeah," the Life Pokemon responded.

Nodding, the Hariyama starting walking away, leaving Xerneas to sigh and turn back to the contestants. "Anyways, that's you guys' challenge. You guys have a full hour to complete it. And to help you guys, there is a recipe book on top of each refrigerator."

"I don't see any plates over there," Amethyst chimed in, gazing over at her team's station. "We're supposed to present the dishes, right?"

"They're atop the refrigerator as well, but you may want to be careful, they're fragile," the cervid responded.

Gazing at the table barrier, she eyed the clock that read 12:26 PM. "Okay, your challenge starts… NOW!"

Immediately, the competitors separated into their teams and rushed to their respective sides.

 **000**

"Eggs, eggs, eggs…" Morgan repeated as she and the others walked through the forest.

The egg-related challenges were very annoying. Not only were they in nearly every season, but there was nothing ever different about them. The main challenge was always just finding the most eggs or just finding them in general.

Shine let out a sigh, "How many times have they done these egg finding challenges? It's really getting boring."

Sola giggled, hip checking the Espeon beside her, "Sis, we've been at this game for over twenty years _and_ there are dozens of other shows identical to this one. I'm pretty sure everything has already been done before in some way, shape, or form more than three times over."

"That doesn't make it any less boring," Shine responded.

"Well, they've got half of us fighting off parents to get the eggs, and then we have to run up the cliff to get them in a nest," Kojo said with a shrug. "Then, the other half of us is doing something else related, so at least it's not _exactly_ like all of the other times they've done it."

"Mother of Arceus, we screwed ourselves…" Sally suddenly realized, stopping in place.

The others were taken aback by her sudden statement, turning back to her with confused expressions.

"Whaddya mean, Sally?" Ace queried.

Sally groaned, "We could have kept Frosty, Carson, or Holly with us so we could get an aerial view. They said that the parents were going to be protecting their eggs, so it would have been much easier!"

"Well, it was Amethyst's idea and none of us decided to stop it or question it," Sola replied with a shrug. "And, we couldn't have known that they'd be so specific with what's guarding them and what we're going to be doing with them."

Ace nodded in agreement. "We may just end up stumbling upon one of the eggs anyway. All we have to do is listen up for any roars or look and see if there are any large Pokemon around that could possibly cave our faces in…"

"Well, we could go check near the different 'main points' again and see if any of them are hanging around there," Morgan suggested as they continued moving forward. "I'd say split up, but I feel like we'd get things done quicker if we stick together."

"Sounds good," Ace commented.

"Yeah, especially since _all_ of us have to be present when we take all of the eggs back," Shine reminded.

"Okay, so where should we check first?" Sola queried.

"I say we check the lake first," Kojo suggested. "It's a wide space, so there's bound to be at least _one_ egg around there."

"Alright, let's go," Morgan said as they all started heading toward the lake.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were gathered near the gym in order to come up with a feasible strategy that'll ensure them success. They had lost three challenges in a row, though the last one was on purpose, and they needed to pick themselves back up and make sure that they were back on top. And with Pia gone, they had a much better chance.

"Alright, so here's the plan. Fez and Klavier will fly around looking for the parents, and once they find them, they lead us to them so that we can get the egg," Marie said.

"Uh… And what if we get attacked from below?" Fez retorted.

"If you can't dodge, then there's something wrong with you," Anthony deadpanned. "Now, get looking."

With a shrug, Fez took flight, with Klavier following suit.

As they left, Titan rose a brow, turning to the couple "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Well, we _are_ at the gym," Marie reminded, gesturing to the building with a thumb.

"Hey, not everyone's the fitness type," Aspen replied, giving them a look. "I mean, I do yoga sometimes, but actual weight-lifting and things of that nature? No way I can do it."

"Have you tried?" Marie asked, folding her arms.

The Furfrou scoffed with a playful smile, "Does it look like my body can handle that?"

"I mean… You have sex don't you?" Anthony brought up, causing a blush to faintly appear on Aspen's face. "If your body is able to handle _that_ , I'm sure that it can handle holding up a few weights…"

Dhaunt deadpanned, "Is this conversation really happening right now?"

Titan thought aloud, "Couldn't we have just kept one of them around so that we have one person searching alone, and the other person helping us so that we don't just wait around?"

Anthony blinked, "Why don't you guys ever interject _before_ a plan goes into effect!?"

Marie held her head, groaning, "Okay, so whenever or _if_ they find something, we tell one of them to stay with us. In the meantime, let's just chill here until they get back."

"Sounds a bit counterproductive, but okay," Dhaunt spoke.

They all entered the gym, the cold air hitting Dhaunt and Titan like a bus. Aspen, due to her fur, didn't feel that much.

Marie and Anthony walked toward the weights, while the other three just stood at the doors and windows, waiting for Fez or Klavier to return.

 **-000-**

Fez sighed to himself as he flew around the island. He had been talking to Lassie for the past week, and he was starting to believe that he liked her, or at the very least, her attitude. To him, the Snow Land Pokemon was essentially a less butch Sabrina.

They didn't have much of anything in common, but he just felt a sort of connection. He knew for a fact that she didn't like him in _that_ way, and he was fine with it. He wasn't entirely sure if he truly liked her or not. He knew that he liked tough and sassy girls, but Lassie in particular was a bit of a wild card.

Realizing that he was distracting himself from the challenge, he shook his head of his thoughts before looking down. He caught sight of a Kangaskhan wandering through a clearing. His eyes widened. "Yes!" he cheered to himself.

He prepared to head back to the gym to let the others know what he'd found, but he realized that it'd take up more time and he'd probably lose it. He let out a sigh before looking around, "Where the heck did Klavier go?"

Groaning, he flew down after the Kangaskhan, eager to retrieve a possible egg. There wasn't a Kangaskhan around before, so it must have been there for the challenge.

He flew down to the ground, landing silently. The Kangaskhan had already retreated, causing the Unfezant to sigh to himself. Turning back around, he decided to check where she had just left. Walking in the opposite direction of the Kangaskhan, Fez let his mind wander once again as he started thinking about the other girls in the show and who else had similar personalities to Lassie and Sabrina.

In doing so, he stepped off of a ledge, landing face first in the dirt. He groaned, lifting his face from the ground. He got back to his feet, shaking himself off. "Stupid lousy…"

He continued forward, deciding to focus on the challenge and ignore his thoughts. He continued walking forward, passing by trees and bushes. Eventually, he exited the forest, sand replacing the firm dirt under his feet.

He groaned to himself. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

 **000**

"Okay, so we're cooking eggs," Annie began. "It can't be that bad, right?"

Aura gave her a look, "Annie, I'm a mother. I have to cook breakfast sometimes. This is gonna be a cinch."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure by now _all_ of us know how to cook eggs the way we like them," Summer stated, folding her arms.

"Okay, then why don't we just get started already?!" Lassie spoke up as she opened the fridge and took out a carton of eggs. "Standing around here just talking about it isn't going to do us any good now is it?"

"So, just five egg dishes, correct?" Cramad queried as Summer grabbed the recipe book from the top of the refrigerator.

"And they have to judged by Zahku, so we have to actually make them tasty," Summer said, flipping through the pages. "We can't just have them be basic and plain…"

Phill rose a brow, "Uh… Need I remind us that this is _Zahku_? A foreign guy who speaks in the third person sometimes and just acts as the muscle of the show? I doubt he'll be picky."

"Yes, but underestimating is what causes others to fail," Lassie countered before looking back to the others. "So, what are we going to do?"

Summer hummed as she placed the book on the table, "We can do eggs five ways and just have them be our five dishes."

"Okay, that sounds simple enough, but what five ways are we going to attempt?" Cramad queried.

"We can just do the types that people like to eat. Hard-boiled, scrambled, over-easy, sunny-side up, and…"

Aura interrupted, "Well, we don't really have to just do all of the _basic_ types. Maybe we should throw in an omelet. It's still a egg-based food, after all."

"That sounds good," Lassie nodded. "How many pans do we have?"

Phill looked behind the stove, finding a single frying pan sitting there. "We've just got one."

"Okay, so this is going to take a while," Summer replied. "But, this should still be pretty easy. Are there any other bowls or salt and pepper shakers anywhere so we can season them evenly beforehand?"

"I think there's salt and pepper on top of the fridge," Aura said as she took a stick of butter out of the fridge. "I saw something black and white…"

Summer approached the fridge, reaching up and taking down an unopened package with filled salt and pepper shakers inside of them. "Got 'em."

Upon reaching up again, she felt nothing else other than the plates that they would use to present their egg dishes to Zahku. She groaned, "And we have no bowls and nothing to stir them in. How wonderful…"

"Uh… maybe Lassie can create one made of ice," Phill thought out loud.

"That sounds like a bad idea. It'll make the eggs super cold, and they'll probably stick to the bowl," Annie argued.

Lassie thought for a moment, "Actually, that doesn't sound bad at all. And Annie, eggs spend a good amount of time in the fridge. They're already cold, so that means nothing."

Annie rolled her eyes before looking over and seeing Marion just sitting at the table, watching the other team work. She sighed to herself.

 **000**

" **All I'm gonna say is, if we somehow lose this challenge, finding a candidate for elimination won't be that difficult…" Annie commented, folding her arms in a huff.**

 **000**

"Alright, we've got one pan, but eggs shouldn't take that long to cook anyway, so we may actually have a chance," Ashton said, using her vines to place the pan on one of the four corners of the stove.

However, realization suddenly hit. This was _not_ the traditional stove that she was used to cooking on. There were no knobs for her to turn in order to adjust the heat, nor were there eyes on the top of the stove. The only thing that stuck out about this appliance was the door underneath the stove top and the pipe that stuck out on the higher level of the stove.

"Wait, something's not right," Holly acknowledged, looking at the stove. "There's nothing on it to turn it on…"

"And there's some weird door underneath it," Carson said, opening the door underneath the stove.

"How are we supposed to get anything done if the stove won't turn on?" Taylor asked, slithering over.

Connor sighed to himself, completely flabbergasted by their lack of knowledge. He cleared his throat, "Uh, guys… This is a wood burning stove."

Upon hearing that, Ashton face-vined herself with a sigh. "How did I forget about these things. Raiden's mother uses one for crying out loud…"

"Wait, so we have to go gather _wood_ for this thing to work?" Frosty queried.

"Yes," Connor answered. "But then we'll need to make a fire somehow, which I honestly don't see happening."

"Yeah," Taylor said, coiling around him. "We didn't think to bring anyone with any fire-type capabilities…"

"Actually, we didn't think at all. It was Amethyst's idea," Frosty reminded.

Amethyst was silently seething while standing beside Ashton, inspecting the door where the wood would go. Hearing him bring her up when _he_ just trailed them really irked her; her sails slowly turned red.

Seeing this, Holly's eyes widened. "Uh… Frosty, hon. Why don't you and Carson head into the forest and get us some wood? We'll take it from here."

"Huh?" Carson queried, a bit uncomfortable with the fact that _he_ was being sent with Frosty.

"Oh, uh… Okay," Frosty said as he started floating away. Carson watched him leave before turning back to the others with pleading eyes.

Holly waved him onwards, gesturing to Amethyst's red sails. Seeing this, Carson sighed to himself.

Frosty's voice rang out from the distance, "Come on, Carson!"

Carson floated away from the gazebo, an unenthused expression plastered on his face as he followed Frosty away from the teams.

 **000**

 **Frosty let out a sigh, "Okay, I'm not stupid. It's pretty obvious that I'm public enemy number one on the team because of my** _ **opinions**_ **. It's kinda stupid, but hopefully if I can back on their good sides by helping out."**

 **000**

"Wait, so you just let Demenio have his way with the both of them?" Ace asked, completely shocked. "I thought that marriage meant being faithful…"

Sola giggled, "It was just a test. He started feeling a bit conflicted because of everything that happened during All-Stars, so I decided to set up a visit. The two of them knew, and were more than happy to help out, and I'll admit, it was _very_ arousing to see. He's still feeling a bit weird about it, but he'll be okay."

"He still prefers just you, I'm sure," Shine chimed in.

Sola nodded. "Yep. He admitted that it felt the same and that he kinda liked it, but he still prefers being with a girl."

"Huh, that's… Really weird to hear about," Sally opined. "I'll be honest, when I saw the entire thing about Jet and Aylesha, I didn't talk to him for two weeks. So, I wouldn't be able to deal with it."

The group eventually made its way to the lake, the wet scent of the vicinity entering their nostrils as the moist ground wet their paws. Their conversation immediately shifted as they approached the body of water.

Morgan let out a sigh, scanning the open water, "Okay, we need to hurry up and find these eggs before the other team does."

"Uh… I spy with my little eye, something guarded by a Ludicolo," Kojo commented, looking out in the distance.

The others looked out at the lake again, this time their eyes set on a muddy piece of land surrounded by branches and sticks. There was a Ludicolo dancing on the land, while also checking occasionally to see if anyone was there. Behind it, swaddled in a blanket of mud and wet leaves, was a blue egg.

"Alright, there's a single Ludicolo there, so this should be easy," Ace said. "All Shine has to do is-"

Suddenly, Mew's voice rang out from the loudspeakers. "WE FORGOT TO MENTION! NO USING KINESIS OR TELEPORTATION OF ANY KIND TO RETRIEVE EGGS!"

Ace sighed, "Nevermind…"

"We should have expected that, to be honest," Sally shrugged.

"That's why I didn't offer any assistance," Shine explained. "It's pretty much a common sense rule at this point."

"Well, who's going to be the one to go and take it out?" Sola queried. "I have an idea, but does anyone else _want_ to go?"

"Just tell us your idea, Sola. We don't wanna waste time," Morgan insisted.

Sola nodded, "Okay, so, I was thinking that since Kojo is undoubtedly our best battler, we have him fight the Ludicolo, while Ace goes around and swims toward the bit of land and uses his ribbons to get the egg while it's distracted."

Sally hummed, "Huh... That sounds plausible. So, you guys up for it?"

Kojo and Ace exchanged glances. Kojo shrugged, "Fine by me."

"Sure," Ace shrugged.

 **-000-**

Kojo took a breath as he approached the edge of the lake. "Well, I know U-Turn, so it shouldn't be that hard to beat it."

"Alright Kojo, go on and start swimming toward it," Morgan said, nudging the Mienshao forward.

"Alright, alright, I'm going," Kojo said as he jumped into the water.

He began swimming toward the muddy slab of land, ready to take on the Ludicolo. He decided to dive underneath the water and attack the Carefree Pokemon using the element of surprise. As he got closer, he slightly lifted his nose up to the surface for a new breath of air before lowering it back down.

The Ludicolo happened to look in his direction and noticed the disappearing appendage. "LUDIIIIICOOOOLOOOOOOOOOO!"

It began to dance feverishly, swinging its arms back and forth and shimmying. Soon enough, dark clouds started forming over the island, hiding the clear, blue sky.

"What the-" Sally started.

"Crap, it's using-" Shine's statement was interrupted once she felt a drop of water land on her nose, following by a sudden downpour. "Rain Dance…"

Morgan groaned, "Ugh… This is just great. Now it'll be at an advantage."

"Well, hopefully Kojo can hold his own in this case," Sally replied, folding her arms as the rain continued pouring down.

Being drenched by the rain, Ace turned to the others, "Uh… do I still have to go out there?"

"Yes," Sola replied. "As a matter of fact… Go around now, while it's waiting for Kojo to come up."

Ace sighed as he started walking around the edge of the lake. While he did this, the Ludicolo continued watching the water, waiting for Kojo to raise up. Soon enough, the Mienshao's head rose up from the water as he got onto the piece of land.

He immediately attempted to use U-Turn, but the Ludicolo dodged it as its head turned a blue color. He headbutted the fighting-type in the stomach, sending him in the air. The Ludicolo followed up with a barrage of green orbs, with all of them striking him.

Ace eventually made it to the muddy land, deciding to stay hidden so that he didn't feel the same wrath that Kojo was feeling. Using his ribbons, he carefully grabbed the egg before sinking back underwater and swimming back.

Kojo groaned as he lied on the mud, as he got to his feet, he found himself being punched by an electrified fist, sending him into the drink.

"Well, he's down," Sola commented as they continued being drenched by the rain.

Ace rushed up, panting, with an egg in his grasp. "I got it," he wheezed.

Morgan sighed in relief. "Okay, good. Now we just have to get Kojo and-"

A groan interrupted the Persian's statement as Kojo crawled out of the lake. He lied on the ground, panting heavily. "I hate my life…" he groaned.

 **000**

" **Okay, uh… Maybe I was wrong about Kojo's battling skills…" Sola commented. "But, then again, the Ludicolo boosted its power** _ **and**_ **had a psychic-type move, so… I guess it's excusable."**

 **000**

As the clouds over the island retreated, Klavier flew back toward the gym, an egg in his pincers. He had just retrieved it from a crack at the top of the volcano. He hadn't seen the egg's guardian anywhere, so he felt like he was in the clear.

On his way back, he peered down and noticed Fez walking into an area of the forest that he couldn't identify. There were numerous trees, which blocked his view from above. He was tempted to go after him, but he didn't want to risk losing the egg.

The Fang Scorpion Pokemon hummed to himself, "I'll come back to him later… I need to get this egg back to the others…"

Suddenly, a screech echoed throughout the island, sending shivers up the ground- and flying-type's spine. Turning around, Klavier's face immediately paled at what he saw. A large, grey and purple pterosaur was flying directly toward him, a murderous glint in its eyes.

Klavier looked at the egg he was holding and realized that it was the same color as the Aerodactyl heading in his direction.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" He immediately flew away, with the Aerodactyl hot on his tail.

 **-000-**

"You know, if my head was facing the other way, _you_ would be the one shouting OUT!" Anthony choked out as Marie tightened her legs around his head.

The two had decided to wrestle in order to occupy their time as they waited for either Klavier or Fez to return. Aspen and Dhaunt watched in amusement, while Titan continued looking out of the window. He didn't really care about what the others were doing, as he was more focused on _not_ being send to elimination again. If their numbers continued dwindling, there was a higher chance that _Cramad_ would end up being eliminated. He wasn't about to let that happen.

He eventually heard a faint scream from outside, removing him from his thoughts. Moving outside, he looked up in the sky and saw Klavier, followed by an angry Aerodactyl.

"Crikey!" he shouted to himself as he swiftly rushed toward a nearby tree.

Klavier's screams rang out as he remained in the area around the gym. "HELP ME! SOMEONE!"

The Aerodactyl opened its mouth, firing a dark purple and black beam of energy toward Klavier, striking him as he landed on the ground with a thud, the egg cradled on his side.

The Aerodactyl moved toward the fallen Gliscor with a furious glare. It prepared to fire another Hyper Beam at the Fang Scorpion Pokemon, but was stopped when a yellow web surrounded it. It let out a screech of pain as it was electrocuted before eventually fainting beside him.

Titan climbed down from the tree before going over to check on him. A few moments later, the other four exited the gym, unsure of what was happening, as their conversations, as well as the few televisions inside, were drowning out the Gliscor's cries.

"You okay, mate?" Titan queried.

Klavier smacked his lips, "I hate my life…"

"Well, great job Klavier," Marie said, picking up the egg. "Now we only need four more."

"And, just to make sure that we don't have to deal with this thing anymore…" Anthony blasted a Hydro Pump at the Aerodactyl, causing more sparks to fly as its now wet body conducted more electricity.

"Alright Klavier, you need to stay with us now," Aspen chimed in. "We need you to help us find more eggs."

The Gliscor let out a groan.

"Now we need to wait for Fez to come back. Hopefully he has another egg," Dhaunt remarked.

"I saw Fez going into a different part of the forest, so he's probably still looking," Klavier said, sitting up while rubbing his head.

"Okay, well while he's doing that, let's go look near the stadium," said Marie, cradling the egg with one of her arms.

The others immediately started heading to the stadium. As she walked with the egg, Marie unconsciously moved closer to Anthony. Anthony noticed this,and while he was a bit confused, he couldn't help but smile to himself. The larger female noticed how close she was to her man, and a faint blush spread across her face.

 **000**

 **Marie folded her arms. "What? Just because I held the egg like I did doesn't mean it's in the cards. I mean, what are the chances that Anthony and I will even last that long? A lot of relationships formed in this game go through issues..."**

" **Plus, I'm still not entirely sure if I'd want kids," Marie continued. "And I not saying that I want our relationship to end, I'm just thinking of what** _ **might**_ **happen."**

 **000**

As she finished creating a final bowl, Lassie let out a sigh, "Alright, all of the bowls are guys can start mixing now."

"We still don't have any whisks, spoons, or forks around here," Annie commented.

The Froslass, using Ice Beam, created numerous icicles shaped like kitchen utensils. "Grab something and start whipping."

"Wait, have you always been able to do this?" Cramad queried, admiring the skill and precision used to sculpt the utensils.

Lassie rose a brow. "Um… I'm an ice-type, so… Pretty much."

Phill hummed as he picked up one of the cold, icy spoons, "Well, we could have used you a lot more, then."

Lassie rolled her eyes before she looked over to Aura, who was inspecting the stove. Like a few of the Lugias, she was having a tough time understanding what was wrong and why the stove didn't have anything on it. Lassie facepalmed, "Aura, this is a wood stove, meaning that we need _wood_ for it to work."

Aura groaned upon hearing that, "Marion! Since you're not doing anything, can you go get us some wood?"

"I already got us covered," they all heard a voice say. Looking over, the group saw the Banette approaching with a large stack of branches and logs in her hands.

"Wait, I thought you were just sitting over there," Aura said, looking over to the now empty table.

"Well, I saw and heard the other team talking about how they needed wood for the stove to work, so i decided to go ahead and get some wood for us, too," Marion explained, putting all of the wood down beside the stove.

"Nice work," Summer stated. "Start filling the bottom and I'll blast it. That way, we can get it started."

Marion nodded as she started filling the door with wood. However, due to the brief downpour that showered the island, the wood that she found was still moist. She placed the wet wood inside of the stove; Summer leaned down and prepared to blast a gentle Flamethrower inside.

"Wait!" Cramad exclaimed, scuttling over. "We can't burn wet wood! It won't work. We have to shave it, first."

Summer's eyes widened, "Are you serious!? There's a process?!"

"Yes, when wood is wet, you have to shave it and get t the dry parts before you try to burn it," Cramad explained.

"Are you sure that Marion can't just use Will-O-Wisp?" Annie chimed in. "I'm pretty sure that move ignores all outside factors. The only thing is that it doesn't do anything to fire-types."

Cramad shrugged, "I mean, you can try, but I don't know if it'll work that well."

Marion conjured up four, small balls of purple fire. They all entered the stove, igniting the wood without issue. "It's lit, fam!"

"I will personally smack you if you say that, again…" Lassie threatened, unamused. "Now, let's get cooking!"

"I wish there was more than just eggs in the fridge," Aura commented, opening the refrigerator once again. "Some people rely on more than just salt and pepper…"

"Well, we just have to make do with what we have," Summer replied, grabbing two eggs out of the carton and cracking them in one of the icy bowls.

 **000**

Connor rose a brow as Amethyst explained her plan to him and Taylor, "So… You want us to help you guys get rid of Frosty, then help you get rid of the others?"

"That's the idea," Amethyst replied. "Morgan and the others have either made it to the merge or the finals, or at least had their spouses or friend make it to those levels. Essentially, their chances of winning are much higher than ours, so getting rid of them now will elevate our chances."

"Okay… And Frosty?" Connor queried.

"He's annoys me to no end," Amethyst growled. "He's useless, boring, and he's been giving his ridiculous 'opinions' on the relationships in the show, which pisses me off."

"Oh, you mean when he's saying that all of the relationships in the show are weird or something?" Taylor chimed in, attempting to sound clueless.

"No," Holly responded. "She means like… He will say that people are moving too fast, some relationships are only sex-based and void of actual love, people don't really focus on the relationship aspect and focus on the sex, and things like that."

Connor rose a brow, "If they're just his opinions, why do you guys care? I mean, Annie was trying to convince me to leave Taylor and saying that he was still a manipulative prick, but I ignored her…"

Taylor hummed, coiling himself around him. "And I'm glad you did~" he whispered sensually in the Bouffalant's ears before kissing his cheek.

"Well, uh, apparently he told Amethyst that her and Sven's relationship wasn't _really_ a relationship and more like a father-daughter bond," Holly explained.

The couple exchanged looks of surprise, unsure of how to respond to that. Taylor didn't know that he had said _that_. Sure, it didn't sound _that_ offensive, but to say that a presumably caring and passionate relationship wasn't a relationship at all was a bit much.

"So, can you guys help?" Amethyst queried.

Taylor and Connor exchanged unsure glances. Taylor already knew what he was going to do, but he needed to relay his idea to Connor in private. So, he decided to follow his instincts.

"Uh… Well, me and my boy toy will consider it, and we'll get back to you later," the Milotic replied.

"Oh, uh… Okay," Amethyst said, a bit worried about what they'll say later on. "Hopefully you guys consider it."

"Yeah, we're just gonna have to talk about it, first," Connor explained.

"Well, while Connor and Frosty get the wood, maybe we should start planning what we're going to cook," Ashton started.

"Wait, if you guys are planning on eliminating Frosty anyway, shouldn't we just throw the challenge like they did last time?" Connor queried.

"If we throw the challenge, the others will know that something was up," Amethyst replied.

"Not really," Taylor replied. "As long as you explain why, you should be set."

"Okay, but what about Carson and Frosty?" Holly queried. "Won't they be suspicious as to why we're not working?"

"I mean, the other team was blantant when it came to Pia's elimination, so maybe being upfront with him will work for us, too," Taylor replied. "It's not like he can do anything about it."

"Hmm… true enough," Amethyst nodded. "So, we can just make it clear and…"

Suddenly, a familiarly delicious smell wafted through the air, silencing her. The team all turned their attention to the Ho-Ohs' side, where they saw eggs being scooped into a bowl.

"...admire the delicious, yet, smelly scent," the Tundra Pokemon finished.

 **000**

"The one time I'm actually on my own and I end up making people dislike me because of my own opinions," Frosty mumbled to himself. He turned to Carson, who was holding wood next to him. "Carson, be honest. You and the others don't like me very much do you?"

Carson was a bit nervous about replying, as he did not like upsetting people unless they hurt him, his family, or his friends. And while he and the others found him annoying, Frosty wasn't really trying to hurt anyone's feelings.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I mean, I might as well hear it," Frosty replied. "I already know."

Carson sighed. "Okay, yes. We don't really have a _fondness_ of you. But that's mainly because of what you've been saying lately about people's relationships. It's kinda insensitive and irritating."

"It's just my opinion, though. I wasn't saying that anyone should leave anyone or that the relationships were awful. They were just observations," Frosty explained. "How does me having an opinion that you can ignore and dismiss as stupid make me a horrible person?"

"It doesn't make you a horrible person…"

"But you just said that you and the others aren't fond of me because of that," Frosty replied. "That pretty much means that you all have negative opinions of me because of it, meaning that you think that I'm bad, horrible, annoying..."

Carson sighed. "Look, we just find what you're saying a bit offensive. We're not saying that you're an awful person. It's just because of what you've been saying as of late. Prior to that, you're a good person in my book."

Frosty responded with a shrug. "I doubt anyone else would see it that way, though. They're probably planning my elimination as we speak. I mean, both Connor and Taylor are stronger than us, so why only ask me and you in particular?"

The Bronzong paled. He _knew._ "Uh… Maybe they knew more recipes or… Something."

"I don't know. Taylor doesn't look like the cooking type, and Connor's new attitude makes me think that he'll tell us whether the Blaziken or the egg came first…"

Carson sighed once again, "Let's just drop it and go back. We've got enough wood."

"Okay…" Frosty replied, honestly unbothered at this point. He just wanted to give his view of things for once instead of just remaining on the sidelines, and he was being seen as an annoyance because of it. He didn't even _try_ to possibly be rude and insensitive, but apparently he was. So, he decided that he was just going to be quiet.

 **000**

" **I give up," Frosty stated. "If they don't like me, then they don't like me. If I leave, I leave. No big deal."**

 **000**

Fez was following the Kangaskhan, without its acknowledgement. Soon enough, the Kangaskhan reached another clearing, where sunlight barely broke through the canopy. Hiding behind a tree, Fez observed what it did, hoping that it would show the egg.

It sat down on the ground, taking its baby out of its pouch before allowing it to walk forward. A few moments later, it reached into its pouch again, taking out a tan colored egg.

Fez's eyes widened. " _Oh for the love of Giratina!"_

He looked around, hoping to find something that he could use to distract the Parent Pokemon and allow him to grab the egg. Eventually, his eyes settled upon a stone. He stretched his leg out to retrieve it, making sure to grab it quickly without it noticing.

Grabbing it, he tossed it into the air before hitting it with the back of his wing. This sent the small stone soaring across the vicinity and into bushes on the opposing side. The Kangaskhan heard the noise and turned to face the direction where it heard it come from. It rose up, stalking over with a glare on its face, leaving its baby to playfully gnaw and beat on the egg.

Seeing his chance, he swiftly flew out, grabbing the egg before flying away. The Kangaskhan, after checking out the vicinity, turned back around to find that not only was the egg was gone, _so was its child_!

It growled furiously, looking at the movement of the tree leaves to get a general sense of where it needed to go.

 **000**

" **Okay, so it might not have been the smartest idea to take the kid along with the egg, but it held on and I was** _ **not**_ **willing to face the wrath of its mom! Immediately, at least…"**

 **000**

Ace panted angry as he exited a cave, covered in a bit of dry blood. He held an orange egg in his ribbons, which he promptly handed to Kojo.

Seeing the blood, Shine grew a bit concerned. "Ace, are you okay?"

The Sylveon snarled, "That Ursaring is lucky that its balls are still attached to its body after what it tried to pull!"

"What happened?" Morgan queried, not taking what possibly happened lightly.

"It tried to get me to do sexual favors in exchange for its child!" the Intertwining Pokemon growled. "Then, he put his filthy paws on me, and I had to rip him a new one!"

"Well, at least you stood up for yourself," Sally said.

"I'm getting _really_ tired of people thinking that they can just put their dirty paws on me and force me on them!" Ace stated agitatedly. "This ass and body belong to Chase Alexander Storm and _no one else_!"

"That's right hon, preserve your body," Sola teased. "I know that if any guy tried to make moves on me, I'd kick the crap out of him, Mason would find and kick the crap out of him, and I'm sure that both Demenio and Ray would try to _kill_ him, as would my dad if he was alive."

"I'm sure that all of our husbands and family would be willing to murder or at least kick the shit out of any guy that tries us," Morgan giggled as they began walking away from the cave. "I've got two brothers, a husband, and a mom that plays no games…"

"Well, all I've got is Jet, but I'm sure that he's enough," Sally replied.

"Well, my father would… Uh… He'd end up going back to prison if something like that happened to me," Shine commented, immediately causing the others to stop momentarily.

The Espeon looked back, noticing the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. She sighed, "Yes, my father was a convicted felon. Whoop-de-doo."

"Wait, what'd he do?" Sola queried in interest.

Shine gave her a look, "I'm not gonna reveal his business on this show, so sorry."

"Well it's no wonder you like Shade so much," Kojo chuckled. "He reminds you of your father…"

Shine glowered at the mustelid, "No. I love Shade because he's caring, protective, and he looks out for me. My father… Wasn't really around to do that, but I knew that he still loved me nonetheless."

Kojo nodded in understanding.

"I don't even want to bring up my father; that homophobic, abusive piece of-" Ace growled.

"Wow Ace, this is a new side to you…" Morgan acknowledged.

The Sylveon huffed, "I'm tired of being treated like a pansy and I'm tired of being seen as one. Yes, I'm feminine, but that doesn't make me any less of a male than Kojo… or Anthony… or _anyone_ for that matter!"

Sola hummed, "Y'know, this was always in the back of my mind when overly straight, homophobic men come to the conclusion that being gay isn't manly and that you deserve to get the crap kicked out of you for it. There are plenty of men that are more masculine and manlier than them that are gay. And, doesn't the fact that most gay people enjoy things up their butts, large or small, make them more manly and tolerant of pain since they're taking something in an area that most straight men are afraid to even have touched?"

Kojo twitched. He already knew that gays were more tolerant, but he didn't want to hear possible details. "And this is where I walk forward quicker to avoid hearing the details of this conversation," he said as he started speed-walking forward.

The girls, and Ace all giggled at his discomfort. The Mienshao continued walking forward at a normal pace as their conversation continued behind him. He still faintly heard what they were talking about, causing him to shiver. They needed to be focusing on the challenge, not talking.

"Guys, where are we heading now?" he asked, turning his head back toward them. "We need to- WHOA!"

Kojo had tripped over a rock, sending him into the junk and waste pit. He luckily held the egg up so that he wouldn't end up landing on it. He landed face first into the grayish-brown gunk, placing the egg in a nearby tire so that he can sit himself up.

He spit out the disgusting fluids that entered his mouth on the way down and shuddered. "Am I the punching bag of the day?!"

"Kojo, you okay down there?" he heard Morgan shout down.

"Yeah! Just very disgusted and want to gargle my mouth with bleach is all!" he replied as he shook his fur to get some of the muck off of him. He reached for the egg, only to suddenly be grabbed and lifted up.

Looking down, Kojo saw that he was being grabbed by a Garbodor, causing him to struggle. The Garbodor slammed him down into the sludge. Seconds later, the Garbodor was launched to the side by a strong force, knocking it out cold.

"Kojo, get up!" Sola shouted.

The Mienshao groaned in annoyance as he got to his feet, sludge and bits of trash dripping from his front half. He disgruntledly grabbed the egg before beginning to climb back out of the pit. As he did so, realization suddenly struck Sally. "Wait, if there was an angry Garbodor… Doesn't that mean that there's another egg somewhere down there?"

Kojo twitched, looking back down at the disgusting pit of sludge and junk, eyeing a green egg sitting inside of an old, cardboard box. He immediately climbed out. "Nope. I've had enough of being the designated punching bag for the day," he said, walking away and shaking himself to get a decent amount of the muck off of himself and avoid getting it on the others.

"Well _someone_ has to get it!" Morgan urged.

Shine rolled her eyes. "I'll get it. You guys just hold off the Garbodor if you see it getting ready to attack again."

The Espeon began heading down into the pit. She reminded herself that teleportation and levitation weren't allowed to retrieve the eggs, so she had to rely on the others, and herself. She stepped into the disgusting fluid without issue and held her breath, as the smell was getting stronger with every step she took.

Eventually, she made it to the eggs, picking it up by wrapping her tail around it. She started heading back out of the pit, the egg tightly held in her tail.

"Alright, we've got three eggs," Sola said. "Nice work, Shine!"

"Thanks," the Espeon replied with a yawn. "Now, come on. We've got two more to find before we can end this."

"Well, actually the other half of our team is probably still doing their challenge," Sally replied. "But, I still agree. Where to next?"

"Wanna check around the school?" Ace queried.

"Fine by me," Morgan said as they all started running in the direction of the school.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were in front of a trailer hidden a few meters away from the stadium. Unbeknownst to them, it was the trailer of Tyson and Colton, the extra helpers. And apparently, they had an egg sitting in a lawn chair, with them lying together on another lawn chair beside it. However, given what their challenge was, the two pseudo-legendaries weren't going to give it up so easily. Or at least _one_ of them wasn't.

"Colton… We need the egg," Dhaunt commented.

The Dragonite, sitting on Tyson's crotch, held his arms folded as he sternly glared at the group. "No! You are not taking CJ!"

Marie deadpanned, "You named it?"

"So?" Colton retorted as he picked up the egg. "He's mine and Tyson's. You've got two, go find more somewhere else!"

"Dude, it's literally impossible for you two to have kids unless you impregnate a female or adopt…" Anthony deadpanned, narrowing his eyes at the two. "And given how you're currently straddling waffle boy, it's obvious that the former didn't happen."

"Hey! Tyson had a girlfriend before, so you don't know if this really is his or not," Colton retorted haughtily.

"Well, my ex was only into butt stuff, since she didn't want to have any kids…" Tyson explained, causing Colton to narrow his eyes at him.

"Baby, I love you, but you're not helping!" Colton exclaimed.

"Uh, mate, you realize that you're gonna get the egg back at the end of the challenge, right?" Titan queried.

"Plus, it seems like you and Tyson are in a… Um… _Compromising_ position. You don't want your 'child' to see you guys in that way do you?" Klavier queried.

Colton looked at the egg in his arms before looking down at his position on Tyson's crotch. Biting his lip, he finally let out a sigh. "Fine…"

The Dragonite handed the egg over to Dhaunt, who nodded. "Just consider us a babysitting service. You'll get your 'child' back by the end of the day."

Colton huffed, "Fine, but if there's one scratch on his head, I'll throttle you!"

The others were unnerved by the Dragonite's abrasive behavior and immediately started walking away, leaving the couple alone.

 **000**

" **...Is it bad that Colton scares me now?" Klavier queried.**

 **000**

"Well, _that_ was quite the encounter," Aspen spoke up as they headed back toward the gym. "He acted like my ex-boyfriend's mother."

"Well, the good thing is that we've got three eggs now," Dhaunt said, holding up the egg they just received.

"Yep," Marie replied, holding two eggs. "And with how long it's taking Fez to come back, he'd better have _two_ eggs."

"Hey, he _is_ alone, for all we know, he's have a tough time finding one or fighting off a parent," Anthony reminded with a shrug of his shoulders.

Suddenly, the heard screaming in the distance, coming from the direction they were already headed in.

"That sounded like Fez…" Titan realized.

"Aw crap…" Marie groaned as they all rushed back to the gym.

 **-000-**

Upon making it back, they immediately saw Fez fly into the gym. They swiftly approached him.

"Fez, why were you screaming?" Aspen queried.

"Because-"

The Unfezant was cut off suddenly, as rustling was heard from the bushes. The others turned around in response to the sudden noise. The Kangaskhan emerged from the bushes, looking around. Upon seeing Fez inside of the gym, and the others in front of it, it growled, turning to them with a murderous glare.

Suddenly understanding the situation, Titan fired an Electroweb at it. The Kangaskhan sidestepped the attack before charging up an attack of its own. It blasted a Flamethrower toward them, urging Anthony to act fast and use Hydro Pump, creating a cloud of steam.

"Now!"

Klavier flew upwards, holding Titan in his pincers. The Galvantula fired another Electroweb, which trapped the Kangaskhan and began electrocuting it, similar to the Aerodactyl.

The steam cleared, and the others let out a sigh of relief. They looked back at Fez, who was looking down nervously. The others noticed his fearful expression and looked down, only to freeze. The baby Kangaskhan was at the door, trembling before beginning to wail.

It was then that they understood the main issue. They looked at Fez with serious eyes before Dhaunt opened the door, allowing the baby to rush to its mother. Titan realized that the Electroweb would surel shock the child, so he swiftly shot a thread at it to stop it.

"Klavier. You're a ground-type, go cut the web off of the mama," Titan directed. "We don't need the joey here getting fried."

Klavier nodded before flying over to the shuddering Parent Pokemon. While the two of them handled the beastly marsupials, the others were questioning Fez to get more context.

Marie gave him an unamused look, "You mind explaining to us why that baby was there with you?"

Fez groaned, as they were wasting time with this. "Does it matter? I have another egg, bringing us closer to being halfway finished with this challenge. The baby was just collateral since it held on when I grabbed the egg. Now, can we go find our last egg so we can get on with it?"

The others stared at him blankly for a few seconds before deciding to just move past the situation. As long as the Kangaskhan didn't attack them again, they were okay.

Once Klavier got the web off, Titan released the baby, allowing it to rush to its mother, who groaned while remaining on the ground.

"Alright uh… I say that we high-tail it out of here already," Dhaunt remarked. "We should go check the jail or something…"

Marie nodded, "Okay, we'll head to the jail this time. Fez, you try to find another egg..."

"And this time, try _not_ to kidnap a baby," Aspen added, making the Unfezant narrow his eyes at her.

The Proud Pokemon flew off as Anthony went into the gym to pick up the egg behind the door.

"Alright, we may finally be able to win a challenge again," the Blastoise commented with a breath. "Hopefully we won't fuck it up…"

"And I hope that you didn't just jinx us," Titan commented.

Anthony rolled his eyes.

 **000**

"Okay, and… Done," Summer said as she dusted her hands off.

The Ho-Ohs had successfully finished all of their dishes, which didn't really take that long how quickly eggs cook. However, there were a few fumbles, as some of the eggs ended up overcooking a bit and turned brown. These failed attempts were promptly devoured by Phill, who acted more as a trash can than a cook.

As the Ho-Ohs marveled at their success, the Lugias waited for the time to be called. Frosty and Carson had returned minutes prior, and immediately caught on to what was happening. In response, Frosty just isolated himself, not wanting to possibly cause more irritation. Carson couldn't help but feel bad for him.

Xerneas soon returned in order to check in on them. Walking up to the gazebo, she informed, "Alright guys, you've got fifteen minutes remaining."

Her eyes scanned the tables. She saw that the Ho-Ohs were all ready, with all of their dishes set out. However, seeing the Lugias' empty table, she rose a brow.

"Um, eggs cook rather quickly, so I think the fifteen minutes will help you guys out-"

"Oh, no. It's fine Xerneas. We forfeit," Taylor explained. "We have some team issues that we would like to dispose of."

Xerneas blinked in surprise, not expecting this. She cleared her throat, "Well, is everyone on your team in agreement?"

"Yes," Amethyst answered for everyone.

Xerneas acknowledged Frosty's distance away from the rest of the team and rose a brow, "Even Frosty?"

Amethyst blanched. If them forfeiting relied on Frosty, well it didn't really matter, as they would still lose regardless because of their lack of food.

"Frosty!" the cervid called out.

Hearing his name be called, he floated over with a frown on both of his faces, "Yes?"

"Are you okay with your team forfeiting?"

Frosty sighed in response. The others prepared for him to say no, but that response never came. "Yes. I might as well agree to it. We have no eggs cooked and even if I said yes, they wouldn't do anything. I screwed myself over by deciding to give my opinion about something that is touchy to some, so now they all hate me and are planning on getting rid of me."

Xerneas remained silent before letting out a breath of her own, "Okay then. Ho-Ohs win!"

The Ho-Ohs didn't cheer, but their happiness was evident by their joyful expressions. Hearing Frosty essentially tell them their plan caused a few of the Lugias there to gaze at each other warily. Amethyst was the only one who kept her composure. Just because he knew didn't mean anything.

 **000**

" **Okay, I admit, it sounds stupid to be upset about what he said, but even so, what does he do to help the team?" Amethyst explained. "Even if he wasn't an annoyance to me, he'd probably still be eliminated because of his uselessness."**

 **000**

"So… What do we do with the eggs now?" Lassie queried, eyeing the plates of eggs in front of them.

"Well, you guys can eat them if you want. Zahku apparently ordered himself a pizza and told me that he wasn't going to be the judge. So, I was going to have to be the judge," Xerneas explained. "And, I don't really want eggs."

"Alright then, this is awesome!" Phill said as he grabbed a fork and jumped toward one of the plates, only for it to be pulled away.

Aura, having been the one to pull away the plate, gave him a look, "Phill, you've literally eaten six helpings of burnt eggs already. I think you've had enough."

Phill huffed, sitting up with a pout.

"Well, when you all are ready, we can head back to the beach and wait for the results of the final challenge," Xerneas explained as she started walking away.

The Lugias began following the vivacious deer, as the Ho-Ohs stayed to devour their few dishes. Phill, being the only one not _allowed_ to eat, decided to follow the group back to the beach as well.

 **000**

" **I'd love to be underneath or over either her or Xerneas," Phill stated. "I'm not ashamed to admit that. They are** _ **sexy**_ **!"**

 **000**

Virizion and Mew were still waiting on the beach, with each of them lying on their own beach chair. The two, or three, of them never really conversed often when they were hosting together, so they had decided to pass the time by just talking and joking around. Their conversations consisted mostly of what the others at the hall did that annoyed them, Mew's experience with Victini, his crush on Shaymin, Cobalion, and the girls' relationship in general.

"So, you two _are_ into each other now?" Mew clarified.

Virizion huffed with a smile, "Yes and might I add, that's the third time you've asked that…"

"Yeah, sorry. I just… It's kinda strange, I guess. For me, at least," Mew explained. "You guys pretty much hated each others' guts and wanted Cobalion for yourselves. Then when you decided to share him, you guys still had conflicts regarding who he cared about more and who _performed_ the best. Now, you two are practically lovers and still share Cobalion, who is _sorta_ happier with you guys and in general."

Virizion giggled at this. "Well, I get that. We actually had to mature and get over ourselves. Then, once we fully realized that we were still getting the same attention and the same pleasure from the same hunk, it all fell into play. No more grudges or jealousy. And… We actually started talking normally and having fun together. Not in _that_ way, but yeah. We love each other, we love Cobalion, and he loves us, so we're all great."

"Wait, he's actually told you how he felt?"

"Yeah. When he's alone with us now, he's much more direct and it-"

Xerneas' voice interrupted the conversation as the deer walked up with the other competitors, "Hey you two."

"Hey hon," Virizion responded.

"You guys done?" Mew queried.

"Yep," the Life Pokemon replied. "The Loser Lugias decided to forfeit since they plan on eliminating Frosty."

"Wow, that's blunt," Mew stated, astonished by the lack of vagueness that he was used to from the competitors. "First Pia, now Frosty. You guys really should consider therapy. Throwing challenges isn't really good for you."

" Don't worry, this is the only time it's gonna happen," Amethyst explained.

"Well, if you guys' team wins, there'll have to be a tiebreaker," Virizion explained.

"Actually," Mew chimed in. "If one half of the team decides to forfeit, depending on the number of players participating in that half, it can negate the victory. So, even if the rest of the Lugias came up, showed the egg, and tried to continue, they couldn't win since there are more of them here."

"No way that was already a rule," Carson responded. "You just made that up, didn't you?"

Mew sighed, "It's common sense. There's thirteen of you. If seven of you forfeit, then you guys lose. I'm not Victini, I'm actually using my head."

"So, do we announce it?" Virizion queried, turning to Mew.

"Yep," the feline replied as he grabbed the microphone connected to the loudspeakers. "ATTENTION, ALL CONTESTANTS! THE LUGIAS HAVE FORFEITED THIS CHALLENGE! THE HO-OHS WIN!"

 **000**

All of the contestants returned to the beach, with the other Lugias looking particularly peeved. They were so close to winning and went through a lot to get the eggs, now they were being told that it was all for nothing!?

"Alright, can someone explain what the hell happened?!" Kojo growled, still holding an egg.

Xerneas nodded, "I can oblige. Their challenge was to cook five egg dishes to be judged. Apparently your team decided to forfeit because Frosty gave his opinions on things that they didn't like, so they planned on eliminating him."

The others stared blankly at them, anger on their faces. Sally huffed, "So… So you guys decided to give up an easy challenge… Because of what Frosty's been saying?!"

"Hey, you didn't like it, either," Amethyst argued.

Sally countered. "So?! You don't have to listen to him!"

"And how exactly does them forfeiting automatically mean our entire team forfeits?" Ace queried.

"Because there were more of you that agreed," Mew explained. "Apparently Frosty agreed with them, too."

"So, Lugias, we'll see you all at elimination tonight," Virizion said as she, Mew, and Xerneas walked away, leaving the teams alone.

The Ho-Ohs decided to go ahead and head to the Winner's Cabin, while the Lugias exchanged agitated looks with each other.

 **000**

The Lugias were all gathered at the elimination area, each of them taking their seats on their respective rocks.

Mew, Xerneas, and Virizion approached, with the feline holding a bag of marshmallows. This caused the Lugias to raise their brows.

"What's with the marshmallows?" asked Connor.

"Well, upon learning that Victini wasn't giving you guys anything during eliminations and just insulting you, we decided that you guys will be getting marshmallows as your symbols of safety," Virizion explained.

"I love you guys even more already," Ace commented with a smile.

"Okay," Mew started. "You guys know the drill by now. When I call your name, you're safe."

"Ace, Shine, Connor, Kojo…" Mew said, tossing marshmallows to each of them. Ace caught it with his ribbons, Shine and Kojo caught theirs normally, and Connor caught his with his mouth.

"Morgan, Carson, Sola, Sally, Holly…." he continued, tossing marshmallows to them as well. Morgan, Sola, Sally, and Holly caught theirs normally, while Carson caught his with kinesis.

"Taylor and Ashton, you guys are safe as well," Mew said as the two retrieved their marshmallows.

Amethyst and Frosty were the last two. Frosty already knew, but was a bit surprised that Amethyst was at the bottom, too. Did the others change their minds? Amethyst was astonished as well. However, she couldn't necessarily blame the others, it _was_ her own selfish idea.

"Amethyst, Frosty, one of you is headed home tonight," Mew explained. "And that person is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

... Frosty."

Amethyst let out a sigh of relief as the marshmallow landed in front of her.

Frosty nodded, "I already knew. I don't know why I got my hopes up thinking you guys changed your minds…"

"If the others were so _passionate_ about getting rid of you, we might as well follow through," Morgan shrugged. "We don't want to risk more challenge throwing."

"Yeah, and besides. You haven't really proven yourself useful to the team," Shine added.

"Frosty, it's time for you to go," Xerneas said.

 **-000-**

Frosty floated toward the elimination device without a word. The hosts followed him, as Mew had to be the one to activate it this time. Frosty, seeing that the elimination device was the same, groaned.

"You guys are making changes, but you didn't change _this_?"

"Frosty, this is literally just a glorified amusement park ride. Nothing much to change about it," Mew explained.

The Snowstorm Pokemon entered the doors as Mew pressed the button. "See ya around."

A few seconds later, Frosty was dropped, sucking him away. Seeing the elimination device in action, the girls rose a brow.

"Huh, this is interesting, to say the least," Virizion remarked.

"Eh, you can say that," Mew shrugged. "And now, we have to keep moving forward and make things actually enjoyable around here."

"Well, today was a good start," Xerneas spoke. "What've you got planned for the next challenge?"

"Something pretty easy," Mew shrugged. "I'll explain it when the time comes."

 **000**

 **And there we have it. Frosty's eliminated, Xerneas and Virizion are now the co-hosts, and things are starting to look up for the competitors! Hopefully. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	19. Bases Loaded

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the competitors had an** _ **egg**_ **cellent time. With Victini deciding to leave Mew alone again, Virizion and Xerneas stepped up to the plate to take over as co-hosts, and in doing so, helped make some minor changes to the competition. From the treatment of the competitors, to the tone of the show in general. Amethyst decided to put her plan into action, convincing the others in her group to forfeit in order to take out Frosty, who had been annoying her with his relationship talk. And, it was successful, as Frosty was successfully eliminated.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

A completely white room was seen. There was a large, king-size bed in the middle of the room. A white lamp was on the right side of it and a nightstand with a digital alarm clock on the left side. A framed picture was also on the small dresser; the picture showed a Typhlosion, a Mienshao, a Mienfoo, and a Cyndaquil sitting in front of a large garden.

There was a 72 in. plasma screen television hanging on the wall across from the bed with another white dresser underneath it. There was a window on the left of the bed, giving a view of a large backyard with a pool and a back porch.

The sound of bed creaking, soft moans, and pants filled the room. Panting heavily, a Typhlosion squeaked out as she threw her head back. She was straddling a Mienshao, who held a very pleased smirk on his face. Summer shuddered before collapsing onto the Mienshao below her.

"Kojo… I love you," Summer panted as she lied on him.

"I love you, too, sweetie," he replied, kissing her as the two of them sat up.

Summer got back over him, their noses touching, "You wanna go out with the kids today? Have some family fun time?"

Kojo smirked, "You know it. I just hope the paparazzi aren't around. They're getting annoying."

"They weren't before?" Summer teased, sitting up in his lap as he placed his hands on her hips.

The Mienshao chuckled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I guess…" she replied as they slowly leaned toward each other before she suddenly felt something grainy around her. She saw that he was disintegrating before her very eyes. Her eyes widened in shock as the room turned a dark black and red color.

"No.. No, no, no… NO!" she repeated, feeling ready to cry. She gazed at the photo on the nightstand and saw his body hanging from a tree. She shook violently, completely frightened. She felt the bed slowly begin melting away, along with the rest of the room.

"HELP!"

 **-000-**

Summer's eyes popped open as she sat up, panting. Looking around, she saw that she was in her bed in the Winner's Cabin. The room itself was empty, as her roommates were either eliminated or sleeping with someone else. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she caught her breath. Gazing to the window near her, she saw that it was still dark outside.

She wiped the bit of sweat from her forehead as she started to get out of bed. That nightmare was very knew. Usually, she didn't really dream at all and only faced darkness. But, when she _did_ dream lately, Kojo was involved in some way. That was the first time her imagination, desire, and worry took over completely and made itself clear.

"I… I need to take a walk," she said to herself as she got out of bed and started walking out of the room, the creaking of the wood following her with every step she took.

She peered into a few of the rooms on her way out. Looking into one room, she saw Anthony and Marie sleeping together, with the former's arm draped over the latter. Klavier and Fez were inside as well, a good distance away from them. In another room, she saw Titan and Cramad snuggled together, as well as Dhaunt and Marion, with Annie in another bed on her own. In the last room, she saw Aspen, Aura, and Lassie sleeping in their own beds, too.

As she headed toward the front, she noticed that the television was still on. She decided not to bother and just proceeded to the door.

A voice caught her off guard, startling her, "Summer?"

Jumping, she turned around to see Phill sitting on the couch. She hadn't noticed him there before. "Uh… Hey Phill. What are you still doing up? It's 2 in the morning."

"I could ask you the same thing," the Raticate countered.

The Volcano Pokemon scoffed. "I'm just going for a walk. No big deal."

Phill's look didn't deter, "At 2 in the morning?"

Summer approached the couch, placing both of her hands on the arm. She held a fake smile on her face, which scared Phill a bit, especially when she started talking, "Phill, you know me. I appreciate the concern, but your persistence will land you with a missing tail."

Phill swallowed in fear. The look in her eyes told him that she was dead serious. He chuckled sheepishly, "I withdraw my concerns…"

"Good boy," Summer replied as she turned back around in order to exit the cabin.

Once she was gone, Phill let out a sigh of relief, "Kojo… Good luck sticking it in that…"

 **000**

Summer was prepared to take her walk, but she realized that she didn't want to go on it alone. She gazed thoughtfully at the Loser Cabins before walking towards them. She didn't want to disturb anyone, but after that dream, she just wanted to be accompanied by someone else. And who better than who was part of it?

She approached the guys' side of the cabin and opened the door gently, not wanting to suddenly wake up everyone in the cabins. She moved toward Kojo's bunk and sat down on the edge of it, rubbing his chest.

Feeling the sudden touch, the Mienshao was startled awake. Upon seeing Summer there, he blinked and sat up with a tired groan. "Babe? What's wrong?"

Summer eyed him lovingly. Given that it was a bit chilly outside, she decided to just stay inside. She stood back up, closing the door fully, before walking back over to his bunk and climbing onto him.

"Summer?" Kojo asked as the Typhlosion moving his covers to the side before getting body to body with him and draping the sheet back over the two of them.

She gazed into his eyes before locking their lips in a passionate kiss. He slowly wrapped his arms around her as she slowly separated and laid her head over her shoulder. "I love you…" she whispered shakily.

Kojo could feel her shudder a bit, worrying him. However, he didn't want to wake the others, so he decided to talk about it later. "I love you, too."

He held her closer to him, not wanting to let her go.

 **000**

" **Something happened. I could feel her trembling in my arms," Kojo stated. "I'm gonna talk to her later on. I don't want to see her upset at all…"**

 **000**

Hours passed by, with the sun rising up and beaming down on the island, showering it with warmth.

Inside of the Loser Cabins, the girls were awoken by the sound of knocking at their door. It was initially ignored, as no one ever bothered them, but when the sound persisted, groans echoed through the air.

Morgan, being the closest to the door, sighed as she dragged herself out of her bed. She approached the door and opened it, revealing a familiar looking Tyranitar holding a wagon handle.

"Tyson?" Morgan queried. "What are you doing?"

"Bosses told me and Colton to start preparing breakfast for the losers of challenges," the Armor Pokemon explained as he reached into the wagon. There were numerous black platters with plastic wrap covering them inside of the wagon. Morgan was surprised at this. They were actually going to be fed regularly now? This was a major breakthrough!

"How many of you are in this side?" Tyson queried.

Morgan groggily peered back into the room before yawning, "Uh… There's seven of us in here."

Tyson nodded, "Got it."

He picked up seven of the platters, handing them to the sleepy Persian. Seeing what he was doing, Morgan gave him a look before stepping back and opening the door wider. Seeing this, Tyson before walking into the girls' side.

Due to the conversation being had at the door, and the breeze entering the room, the other girls decided to go ahead and actually get up. Seeing the Tyranitar bring in food, they were all pleasantly surprised. Tyson placed the platters one of the empty bunks before heading back out, dusting off his hands.

"Uh, thanks Tyson," Sola called.

"No problem," he replied as he left them alone, moving on to the guys' side.

Morgan closed the door and turned back around to see Holly, Sola, and Amethyst checking the food. It was still unreal to think that they were actually serving the losing team. Most of the time the losing team had to forage or they just took food from the Winner's Cabin. In the other seasons, feeding wasn't really a regular occurrence unless those methods were used or they suddenly felt like it.

"Well, Virizion and Xerneas have only been here two days and they've already done more for us than Mew and Victini have done in the past twenty years or so," Shine commented. "Nice to see that not _all_ legendary hosts are insensitive pricks."

"What're in the platters?" Sally asked curiously.

Holly removed the tinfoil from one of the platters, revealing a serving of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, and two waffles. A plastic fork was placed on the utensil side of the plate that was used.

"The usual breakfast foods, minus cereal," Amethyst explained as the others came over.

Sola removed the tinfoil from another one and saw the same food. "Okay, these are all the same. Cool, we don't have to fight over who gets what."

Sally rose a brow at her statement, "Why would we fight over that anyway? We're actually being fed decent food by them for once, who cares if they're different?"

"Fair enough," Sola replied.

Morgan procured her platter and headed back to her bed as the others did the same. As she started to dig in, she eyed Amethyst before clearing her throat.

"So, we're not going to be having any more _issues_ with challenges anymore are we?" Morgan queried. "Frosty's gone now, so you should be fine, right?"

Amethyst gave her a look. "Yes. Look, I know that you didn't like the fact that we forfeited, but just because it happened once doesn't mean it'll happen again."

Morgan nodded, not trusting what she was saying. She was going to be keeping an eye on the 'shy' Amaura.

 **000**

" **Amethyst has been breaking more and more out of her shell, which is good, but it is also a bit concerning and irritating," Morgan commented. "She was able to convince the entire half of the team to forfeit just because she didn't like Frosty's opinion. If she's able to convince the people around her so easily, who knows what'll happen?"**

 **000**

" **I think Morgan is actually worried, and she kinda should be," Amethyst explained. "Her group only has five players, while mine has four right now, but maybe six in the future. If we wanted to, we could throw every challenge and pick them off one by one, but I don't want us to be at a disadvantage and have to vote my own friends out…"**

" **We'll have to find the right moments. Right now, I think getting back on their good side will be beneficial."**

 **000**

Lassie was reading her book in her bed in the Winner's Cabin. She was on the twenty-first chapter and growing a bit irritated at how the guys in the book were behaving and how the girls were just allowing it or running away like cowards.

She scoffed, "Angel cheats on Emma with Launa and she still decides to stay by his side? Ugh…"

"What are you reading?" Aspen queried, having heard her expression of irritation.

"Love Above It All by Pierceton Connelly," the Snow Land Pokemon answered. "It's a romance novel, but so far it's just so irritating and annoying. The guys are all pigs, just in it for sex, or semi-decent, and the girls are all bitches, sluts, or wimps."

Aura giggled, "Then why keep reading it if you hate it so much?"

"Because it's so damn addicting," Lassie replied, shaking the book in her hands.

Aura shrugged, "Fair enough."

Aspen sighed to herself. Hearing about the book and its content really made her pine for intercourse, as her mind wandered to what her boyfriend was probably doing right now. "Arceus, I wish my man was here, I'm in need of filling."

"Okay, didn't really want to hear that," Lassie remarked as she closed her book and started floating out of bed. "You two can talk about your lust by yourselves…"

When the Snow Land Pokemon left, the girls giggled.

"It wasn't going to be a conversation," Aspen said as she climbed out of bed as well. "Just a general statement."

Aura giggled, "I know. Let's just go get some breakfast."

The pair of friends headed out of their room and headed to the front, where they immediately got a whiff of sizzling bacon and eggs.

They saw that Marie was the one behind the stove, with Anthony sitting on the couch and Phill asleep in the sofa chair. Aspen stifled a laugh, "Why does this look like a standard homelife? We've got the wife cooking, the husband just sitting on the couch, some visitor on the couch, and the kids coming up front."

"Because that's how it usually goes on those cheesy sitcoms," Anthony replied before rising to his feet and heading toward the kitchen area. He approached Marie, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I can promise that when we're together, it won't be this way. Things will be a _lot_ more… _pleasant_."

A smile formed on the Feraligatr's face as she moved the bacon-filled pan to the side and turned off the eye of the stove she was using.

Aspen smiled, "That's exactly what my man does when I go to the kitchen to grab something. The only difference is that things get _very_ steamy _very_ fast."

"Aren't you already uber rich?" Anthony queried. "Why not just stay in the bedroom all day and have your housekeepers do it?"

Aspen gave him a look, "Hey, I'm not a bitch to the staff I have. They only cook at the regular times and handle the cleaning around the house. Desmond and I handle the rest and pick up after ourselves."

"Huh, good to hear," Marie replied as she took a few plates down. "Now, if any of you is hungry, help yourselves. First come, first serve."

 **000**

Kojo decided to take his and Summer's interactions outside, as the other guys were pretty confused as to when and why she was in the Loser Cabin to begin with. The two of them sat on the beach, with Summer lying over him, his arms around her waist.

"Talk to me…" he stated sternly as the two stared at the blue sky. "I know there's something wrong."

Summer took a breath, rolling over so that she was facing him. "I… I had a dream last night, and… It turned into a nightmare near the end."

"What was it?" Kojo queried in worry. Summer was a tough girl, so if the nightmare spooked her bad enough to sleep with him in the Loser Cabin, it had to have been awful.

Summer sighed, "This is gonna sound like a stupid reason to come…"

"No, no, I don't wanna hear that. Just tell me what happened in the dream," Kojo said, not wanting her to think less of herself.

A blush formed on the Typhlosion's face, "Well, we were… _Fornicating_...In a bed at our house. We had two kids, our house was big, had white insides, essentially we were living a pretty good life. But, when we were planning a day with the kids and about to kiss, you just… disintegrated. The walls changed a blood red and black, everything started melting around me, I saw a picture of you hanging yourself…"

Kojo heard her voice cracking as she explained what happened and let out a deep sigh, sitting up with her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

He rubbed her back lovingly, kissing the side of her face before getting head-to-head with her. "Listen to me. I love you. I love your personality; I love your strength; I love your sexy body; I love your feistiness. I promise you that I won't leave you."

Summer sniffled, hugging him closer. "What eats at me is… I know that we're all invincible, but… I'm still letting this affect me like this…"

"You dreamed about a perfect life for us outside of the game, and you're so scared and upset about something impossible happening. Do you know what that means, Summer?" Kojo queried.

"What?"

Kojo gazed deep into her eyes. "We're meant for each other…"

Tears rolled down Summer's cheeks as she kissed Kojo forcefully, sending them back on the ground.

 **000**

 **Kojo let out a sigh, "It's official. She is the love of my life. The fact that the thought of me leaving her life,** _ **our**_ **life, brought her that much worry… It just…"**

 **He took a breath, trying to keep from getting choked up. "I love her. She has shown me more love, compassion, and pleasure in a month and a half than Floatzelle has done in the over ten years we've been together!"**

" **She's mine. It's a done deal."**

 **000**

" **Kojo is so great. I love him so much," Summer stated. "I don't care how smitten I sound, I want him to stay with me. He promised."**

" **No other guy has treated me as great as he has," she remarked.**

 **000**

Mew's voice echoed from the loudspeakers, "Campers! Please report to the stadium for your next challenge!"

 **-000-**

On the way to their destination, Taylor brought Connor closer to him. They didn't really talk about what they were going to do with regards to Amethyst and her alliance. Taylor already knew that he was going to play her, but he needed Connor to be on the same page.

"Sweetie, we need to talk about the thing Amethyst wanted to talk about," Taylor whispered to him.

"How come?" Connor queried. "If we just eliminate the others, that'll leave us and them, then they'll eliminate us…"

Taylor blinked in response. That made a lot of sense, however, his plan would ensure that it didn't come to that. "Okay, I can see why that is a dealbreaker, _but_ , we can _play_ them."

"Play them?"

"Agree to work with them, but when it comes down to the actual votes… Vote for one of them, instead," the Milotic explained.

Connor rose a brow, but he honestly didn't mind that much. As long as he and Taylor were safe, he didn't care.

A bit ahead, Ace sighed to himself. "Well, I can actually say that I'm feeling full…"

"Oh?" Sola queried, a small smile forming on her face. "Did you make a quick trip to the jail?"

Ace made a face before blushing, "No. I meant full from breakfast! Though, being full from _that_ would be a perfect start to the day."

"Oh, it is…" Shine stated nonchalantly as they continued walking toward the stadium.

"Yep. I can attest to that, too," Sola giggled. "I'm sure quite a few of us know what it's like and enjoy it."

Ace hummed, "Maybe I can convince Chase in the mornings so that we're rejuvenated…"

"You may want to do it in the shower, otherwise you'll go right back to sleep," Sola advised.

Sally shook her head with a giggle, "Is this conversation really happening?"

She didn't really care about the subject matter; she just felt a bit awkward hearing about the others' sex lives. She honestly didn't think they'd be so open, but then again, after spending so much time with them, she should have come to expect it.

"Don't act like you haven't done anything frisky with Jet," Morgan teased.

Sally immediately blushed, folding her arms. "Well, I don't hear you talking about _Hex_ …"

Morgan shrugged in response, "They know where he buries his bone. There's not much to say about it…"

Sally rolled her eyes playfully at her response.

 **000**

All of the contestants made it to the stadium. Entering it, the first thing that they all noticed was chalk lines on the sandy ground. As their eyes traced the lines, they saw that the lines formed a diamond shape. At each point of the diamond, there was a white hexagonal pad sitting there.

"Baseball?" Phill queried, looking around. Soon enough, he was met with a ball to the face. "Ow!"

"Oops, sorry about that," they heard as Mew floated over, a baseball bat in his arms. Virizion and Xerneas followed closely behind. "But, Phill is indeed correct. Today's challenge is an old-fashioned game of baseball."

Fez groaned, "Ugh… Baseball is so _boring_. You hit a ball with a stick and run, while people try to catch or touch you with the ball you hit…"

Mew hummed, "Well, considering that it's Unova's favorite pastime, I'm surprised that you think that."

"So… We're just playing baseball?" Dhaunt queried.

"Essentially," Xerneas answered before turning to Mew. "You wanna explain?"

"I can do it," Virizion spoke up, facing the competitors. "Now, each team will choose nine players to participate, each that will fulfill the roles of an actual baseball team. The people who don't participate will have immunity if their team loses, so choose wisely. We'll assign the positions once your decisions are made."

 **-000-**

"Okay, first of all, has anyone ever played baseball or softball on a team when they were younger before?" Marie queried.

Dhaunt rose a hand, "Yeah, my dad forced me to join a sports team in middle school so I didn't spend all of my time playing video games…"

"Okay, you're in," Aspen stated.

Dhaunt blanched, "What!? I didn't think I was volunteering!"

"Dhaunt, you've barely done anything for the team anyway," Aura explained. "Plus, this'll be good exercise."

"I don't wanna exercise, though…" Dhaunt groaned as Marion rubbed his back.

Marion cooed, "Aww… Don't worry babe, I'll participate _with_ you. I've seen enough softball games to know what to do."

"Well, that was easy. We have two players already," Titan stated. "And it's pretty obvious that I'm out of commission due to my abundance of limbs. As is my lady…"

Cramad gave him a look. She didn't necessarily care for baseball anyway, so the free time and immunity would give her time to talk to Titan.

Anthony nodded, "Yeah, that's fair enough."

Fez decided to chimed in, as his wings would make it difficult for him to participate, "Annie should go, too. I mean, what has she done other than complain?"

Annie glowered at him, "Hey!"

"Annie, he has a point," Marie said, nodding in agreement. "You really _don't_ do very much."

Annie countered, "Well neither has he!"

"I nearly got my ass handed to me in the last challenge!" Fez exclaimed. "I made an effort!"

"Okay, drop it," Marie stated. "Annie, you're participating whether you like it or not."

Annie grumbled to herself.

 **000**

" **Hardly anyone on this team has done anything useful! Fez especially shouldn't have said** _ **anything**_ **given that he's debatably the most useless!" Annie exclaimed. "Phill and Klavier, too! I swear, if we weren't planning on eliminating Marion, I'd say that we should get rid of him, instead."**

" **But, then again, if we keep them and keep losing, we can get rid of them then…"**

 **000**

"Okay, so we've got those three and us," Marie said, referring to herself, Anthony, and Summer. "We still need three more."

Phill shrugged, "Eh, I'll go. Klavier will, too."

Klavier turned to him with wide eyes, "What!?"

"Okay, that's eight. We still need one more," Anthony said, bringing his hands together.

There was a bit of silence among the final few, but eventually, one of them decided to speak up.

"I'll go," Aura chimed in with a shrug. "I'm not really into baseball, but hey. I might as well try it."

"Alright, we're all set. Let's just hope that we're not completely awful," Phill commented.

"They only have two people who can stand two legs…" Marion said, waving away the possible threat.

 **-000-**

"Okay, so three of us will be getting immunity if we lose," Amethyst spoke. "So, I say that myself, Holly, and Ashton sit this out."

Hearing that, Taylor scoffed. "Excuse you? Why should the three of you get to sit out over the rest of us?"

"Because there's literally no real way that we can participate anyway," Amethyst countered.

"Uh… Actually no," Connor chimed in. "You guys would actually be good. Holly, since she can fly, it makes it harder to actually touch her with the ball _and_ she'll be able to fly up and catch balls in the air. Ashton has her vines, and you, well, you have a mouth just like everyone else here. We could fit a glove in there…"

Amethyst twitched at the mention of something going into her mouth. "No. I-I refuse. _Nothing_ is going in my mouth other than food and my medication."

"Wait, what medication?" Holly queried. "You never mentioned any medication before."

Amethyst sighed, turning to the bat, "I left it at home. It helps me with my depression and stress. And I'm _not_ putting _anything_ in my mouth!"

"Okay, uh… Let's just leave Amethyst out of this challenge, huh?" Sally queried, not really wanting to bother with drama. "Now, Connor rose a good point about Holly and Ashton being useful in the challenge, so they're in indefinitely."

Amethyst groaned to herself, her eyes glaring at Connor and Taylor. They _still_ hadn't given her an answer, so she was going to assume that they were going against her.

"So, those two are in, and since they're literally the best players on the team for it, Sally and Kojo will go, too," Morgan reasoned.

Sally shrugged, while Kojo just stared across the way. His eyes were focused directly on Summer, who seemed to be reciprocating the look. The others noticed his dazed expression and who he was looking at.

Sola groaned, "Kojo. You need to focus on the _challenge_ , not your girlfriend."

Kojo didn't reply, but let out a closed-mouth sigh.

"I doubt that I'll be of any real use," Taylor chimed in. "No real arms…"

Morgan let out a sigh. "Okay, fine. I guess the main thing now is to find out who the last person with immunity is going to be."

Sola, Shine, and Ace exchanged looks before looking back at the Persian, who was looking among them all.

"Why not you?" Ace suggested. "You've helped out in almost all of the challenges and acted like our unofficial leader this entire time. I think you deserve a break."

"I can agree with that," Sally chimed in.

"Yeah, she _has_ done quite a bit for the team," Carson chimed in. "It sounds fair…"

Amethyst growled internally, but kept her composure.

Morgan was surprised, to say the least, "Are you guys sure? I mean, I can be a basegirl."

Shine sighed, "No, Morgan, it's okay. I'm sure we can handle a challenge or two without you involved."

Morgan looked over who all was left on their team to participate and she let out a silent breath.

 **000**

The contestants returned in front of the three hosts, who were waiting patiently while once again engaging in normal conversation. Upon seeing the competitors return, their focus shifted once again.

Virizion cleared her throat, "So, I take it that you've all chosen your players."

"Why else would we be back in front of you?" Annie answered.

Virizion decided not to respond to that, instead keeping her focus on explaining the challenge. "Okay, all participants take a step forward."

Marie, Anthony, Summer, Aura, Klavier, Phill, Dhaunt, Marion, and Annie stepped forward for the Ho-Ohs; Ashton, Holly, Carson, Shine, Sola, Ace, Connor, Kojo, and Sally stepped forward for the Lugias.

Looking at the choices, some were expected, while others were a tad bit perplexing.

"Alright then," Virizion stated. "The eighteen of you, follow me over here."

The Grassland Pokemon walked to the opposite side of a stadium, with the participants following her. The remaining eight players were left with Mew and Xerneas, who exchanged looks.

Mew cleared his throat, "Well, looks like the eight of you have immunity. Congrats on… Being useless in this challenge, I suppose."

"So, you guys are free to either leave, or stay and watch the game unfold," Xerneas explained.

"Well, I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than watch this, so I'm just gonna go back to bed…" Fez commented as he spread his wings to fly away.

"Okay… Anyone else?" Mew queried.

Lassie floated out of the stadium without a word, with eyes following her out. The rest of the players looked back at the hosts, as well as each other.

Seeing that no one else was leaving, Xerneas nodded, "Alright, the rest of you can join us on the sidelines."

The two of them headed to a nearby set of stairs. The six that remained followed them as Virizion explained the challenge to the participants.

 **-000-**

Virizion paced back and forth. "Alright, this challenge has a simple premise, as you all know. However, we aren't aiming for nine innings like the standard baseball game. Instead, we're simply aiming for nine home runs. One for each player."

"What if it takes nine innings or more anyway?" asked Phill. "If you want everyone on the team to get a home run, it's gonna take forever."

"Well, you'd better hope that you do well in that case," Virizion replied. "Now, you guys have chosen your players, so you now need to assign each player a position."

Klavier made a face, "Um… I'm not _that_ familiar will baseball, so… You may have to explain that."

Virizion giggled at the Fang Scorpion Pokemon's cluelessness, "There are nine positions: the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder."

Klavier opened his mouth to ask another question, but Dhaunt covered his mouth before he could do so, "Uh… I can explain it to him when we're assigning the positions."

Virizion nodded. "Now. The challenge is about to start. Ho-Ohs, since you guys won the last challenge, you guys are up to bat first. Lugias, you guys determine who is doing what while I help them get set."

Nodding, the Lugias walked a bit away from the group. Sally let out a breath, "Okay, who has the strongest arm here?"

The others looked at each other with knowing glances before all eyes went to Kojo, who blinked.

He deadpanned, "Fine, I'll be the pitcher…" He folded his arms.

Shine smirked, "Good boy." She turned back to Sally, "And since you're the only other person left on the team with the capabilities of a catcher, you'll be taking that role."

Ashton rose a brow, "Wait, can't you or Carson handle that? We could use her out in the fields, too."

Shine drawled, "Do you really they'll allow us to use psychic-type moves in this?"

Holly shrugged, "True enough."

Connor hummed, "Okay, so what about the rest of us, then? Do we just each take a place?"

Sola shrugged, "Well, the remaining positions are mainly all the same. You're catching a ball. I guess the most demanding positions are the outfielders since you have to run faster and farther in order to get the high flying balls."

Shine nodded, "Ashton, Holly, and I can handle that part. The rest of you can take bases and shortstop."

Connor took a breath, "Let's hope this goes well."

 **-000-**

The Ho-Ohs were all given helmets to protect their heads. Seeing them all getting ready, Virizion nodded, "Alright, you guys all know how baseball works. As usual, the main things that we're not going to allow are psychic and ghost-type moves or abilities."

Dhaunt snapped his fingers in disappointment. Using his ghost-type moves was usually how he scored so many home runs when he played as a youngster.

Marie groaned, "Okay, can you guys just let us know now if we're going to be able to use either of the abilities any time soon? It's kinda annoying to hear that before and during almost every challenge."

The others grumbled and nodded in agreement. Virizion nodded, understanding their frustration, "Don't worry, you'll be able to use your abilities sooner or later. Now, pick your batting order and… Maybe get a few practice swings in. I'm gonna go see what the other team has going on."

As she walked over to the opposing team, the Ho-Ohs decided to speak amongst themselves, trying to think of a strategy.

Anthony immediately turned to Dhaunt, "Alright, talk. What batting order do you think will work for us?"

Dhaunt hummed, scratching his head in thought, "Well, none of you really have any experience, so I have no idea how your strong you are with a bat and hitting balls."

Marie smacked her lips, folding her arms, "I beat Flame with one after he cheated, but I'm sure that it doesn't count."

Dhaunt assured her of this, "Not by a long shot."

Aura huffed, "Well then how are we going to decide who goes when?"

Dhaunt let out a sigh, not wanting to disappoint them, "Well, my coach used to just make the strongest go first and go down to the weakest."

Annie sighed, "So we have to assess who is the strongest and who is the weakest, huh?"

Marie gazed at her teammates thoughtfully, "Hmm, well strength varies on this team depending on the situation. But, we're gonna need to focus on physical strength, right?"

Dhaunt nodded, "Yep. So…"

Phill chimed in, "Well, we know who our powerhouses are…" He turned to Summer, Anthony, and Marie, who exchanged looks among themselves.

"Yeah, but the thing is that the rest of us are pretty _meh_ all around," Aura chimed in. "Well, maybe aside from Dhaunt."

Marion's eyes widened, "Ooh, I have an order idea!"

Annie sighed to herself; she really didn't want to hear anything out of Marion's mouth. Her constant badgering about who they should eliminate was enough to make Annie want to completely tune her out. However, it was part of a challenge, so how bad could it be? She took a breath, "Okay… Let's hear it."

Marion rubbed her hands together, "Alright, in terms of the strongest to weakest. I think it should be… Summer, Marie, Anthony, Dhaunt, Aura, myself, Phill, Klavier, and Annie."

Annie deadpanned, "Thanks for that!"

"Oh, no offense, of course," Marion replied.

Annie rolled her eyes, folding her arms. Seeing this, Marion sighed to herself.

Phill rose a brow at the order the Marionette Pokemon proposed. "Uh… Any particular reason you're having Summer go first?"

"Because it makes the most sense," Marion explained. "Summer is undoubtedly the most aggressive person on the team, again, no offense."

Summer rolled her eyes, unbothered by the comment.

Marion continued, "So, if my assumption is right, they'll have Kojo be the pitcher since he's the most capable one aside from Sally. And, if we have Summer be first, we know that it'll be a pretty great start since they're dating."

Summer scoffed, glaring daggers at her, "What makes you think that my man is dumb enough to make it easy for me? He's not gonna throw the challenge!"

Annie rose a brow, an idea coming to her head, "Hey, we don't know how he thinks. _Maybe…_ You can convince him to take it easy."

Summer growled, clenching her fists before reaching for one of the bats, "You're asking me to make my hubby a target for elimination…"

Hearing the anger in her voice, Marie placed a hand on her shoulder, "Summer, calm down. We're _not_ going to ask you to do that. But, if he decides to do it on his own accord, there's nothing that we can do about it. Just know that."

"And… Did you call him your _hubby_?" Phill added on, a playful smirk growing on his face.

Summer gave the Mouse Pokemon a death glare in response, silencing him. Phill immediately darted behind Klavier.

Aura deadpanned, "So, are we gonna follow Marion's order or not?"

Anthony groaned as he picked up one of the bats, "We might as well. It looks like we're wasting time otherwise…."

 **-000-**

After talking with both teams, Virizion walked toward the wall in front of where Mew and Xerneas were sitting with the non-participants.

The Grassland Pokemon cleared her throat, "Alright, contestants, get in your positions. The game is about to begin!"

The Ho-Ohs, excluding Summer, moved to the wall, awaiting their turn to come up. Kojo took his place in the center of the diamond, tipping the helmet that he received from Virizion. Sally was crouched behind Summer, wearing a protective mask and holding out her gloved hand. The others were scattered about the field, guarding bases or waiting in the outfield.

Summer, seeing Kojo tossing the ball up and down in his paw, smirked to herself. She playfully licked her lips, causing the mustelid to raise a brow.

"Alright!" Virizion called. "The challenge can begin… NOW! I'll let you all know when the transitions need to be made!"

 **000**

Kojo took a breath before winding up and throwing the baseball toward Summer. The badger let out a mental sigh, as he wasn't being easy with her. However, that sigh caused her to falter and not even pick up the bat to swing.

"Strike one!" Virizion shouted.

Summer snapped out of it and looked around, growling in agitation. " _Focus, Summer, focus!"_

Sally threw the ball back to Kojo, who, upon seeing Summer's focused glint, smiled. He winded back before throwing the ball forward. Summer, her focus on the ball, swung the bat, striking the ball and sending it flying. She immediately took off on all fours, focusing on at least making it to first base.

Ashton, seeing the ball, quickly used a vine to grab it out of the sky and threw it hard in Carson's direction. Carson, a bit afraid of Summer, was frozen in fear as the Typhlosion had reached his base. The baseball hit him on the side of his head, making him groan.

"Come on, Carson!" Taylor shouted from the sidelines. "Grow a pair and pay attention!"

The Bronze Bell Pokemon sighed to himself as he picked up the ball and threw it to Kojo, who was waiting. Summer got on all fours once again in preparation.

Marie stepped up to the plate, patting the bat on home base before watching Kojo with a confident glare. The mustelid winded back before throwing the ball toward Marie.

Keeping her eyes on the ball, Marie swung the bat. However, she was a bit too early on the swing, allowing Sally to catch the ball and drop it a few seconds later.

"Strike one!" Virizion shouted out.

Marie gaped in shock. How could she have jumped the gun so easily? She growled to herself as Sally threw the baseball back to Kojo. The Mienshao missed the initial catch, having to walk over to retrieve it as it rolled on the ground.

Taking the time to focus, Marie suddenly heard Anthony speak up, "Come on, hot stuff! Just focus and hit the ball!"

Marie gave him a look of 'no duh', before her focus went back to Kojo, who was preparing to throw the ball. She took a breath as the fighting-type brought his arm back before throwing the ball at her forcefully.

Marie inhaled sharply as the ball careened toward her. She swung the bat, sending the ball flying straight forward.

Summer immediately sprinted toward second base, while Marie immediately ran toward first. The baseball had zoomed right past Sola before landing on the ground and rolling toward Ashton. The Meganium picked up the ball with a vine before throwing it toward Carson.

Marie quickly slid into first base just as Carson successfully caught the ball.

Morgan, seeing them falter spoke out, "Guys! You have to be quick on your feet! As soon as the ball touches the ground, grab it and focus on the person closer to home base!"

Annie spoke up, annoyance in her voice, "Hey! Is she allowed to do that!?"

Virizion shrugged, "No rule against it."

Annie growled to herself.

Anthony walked up, waving the bat around playfully. He pat the bad on the white pad, similar to what Marie did. He rose the bat up, ready for Kojo to throw it.

"Come on, Anthony!" he heard from the sidelines. He rolled his eyes.

Kojo threw the ball toward the Blastoise, who smirked. He struck the ball hard with the bat, sending it flying over everyone's head. As it approached the opposite side, Holly quickly flew upwards to grab it.

She grabbed it with one of her legs before throwing it toward Sola. She caught it with her mouth and dropped it on second base before Marie could get to it. Anthony was able to make it to first base, and Summer made it to third.

"Marie is out!" Virizion shouted.

Marie growled, clenching her fists agitatedly.

 **000**

" **I hate baseball…" the Feraligatr snapped.**

 **000**

Marie walked back to the wall, leaning against it with her arms folded. Summer eyed home base anxiously as Dhaunt stepped up with his own bat. He took a breath. " _Okay, Dhaunt, you got this. You know how to play. Just… Hit… The ball…"_

The Shadow Pokemon wasn't the best at baseball. Yes, he was on a team in his youth and he knew a lot about it. However, that did not mean that he was good at it. He was only able to do well when he was younger because of his abilities as a ghost-type. Now that they weren't allowed, he was screwed. He neglected to inform the team of this.

Kojo threw the ball in Dhaunt's direction. He closed his eyes and swung the bat early. Sally was able to catch the ball easily.

"Strike one!" Virizion announced.

Dhaunt blinked before clearing his throat. Kojo was thrown the ball and steadied himself before tossing it at him.

The Gengar kept his eyes open this time and swung the bat, only for the ball to fly past it and Sally to catch it.

"Strike two!" Virizion announced.

Seeing this, Aura immediately shouted, "DHAUNT! What are you doing!?"

Dhaunt stammered, "Uh… J-Just warming up!"

"We don't have time for that! Just hit the dang ball, mate!" Titan shouted from the stands.

The ghost- and poison-type sighed weakly as he readied himself again. " _Come on… Please…_ " he thought to himself.

The baseball thrown back to Kojo hit him in the arm, making him grumble to himself as he picked it up from the ground. He took a breath before throwing the ball to the Gengar.

Dhaunt swung the bat hard, but due to his poor grip, he ended up throwing the bat toward third base, hitting Ace in the side of the head. "OW!"

Dhaunt chuckled sheepishly, "Oops… I guess I'm still a little rusty…"

"And three strikes mean that Dhaunt is out!" Virizion announced. "One more out and the teams will swap places."

Dhaunt sulked over to the wall, with Marie and Annie glowering at him, while Aura sighed and walked up to first base. The Eeveelution sat down at home plate, holding her bat up with a stern glare on her face. She needed to focus, not wanting the team to start losing again.

Kojo was tossed back the ball, sighing as he briefly gazed at Summer, who was back on two feet. An agitated expression was etched on her face and she looked ready to throttle somebody. He chuckled to himself upon seeing this.

His focus shifted back to the serious shiny Pokemon glowering at him. Throwing the baseballs was the simplest job, but it was also a bit annoying. He had to catch or pick up the ball that came back his direction, and his prior failures at catching really irked him.

Kojo winded back before forcefully throwing the ball forward. Aura clenched her teeth before her bat made contact with the ball. It was a light tap, sending the ball rolling a few feet in front of her.

She immediately started running toward first base, with Anthony going to second, and Summer heading back home. Kojo groaned to himself as he sprinted to the ball before throwing it toward home. Sally wasn't expecting this, and held her hand to her face, only for the ball to hit her in the stomach and bounce on home plate just as Summer made it.

"AND THAT MAKES THREE OUTS!" Virizion called. " SWAP PLACES!"

Phill rose a paw, "Wait, don't we have to choose who does what again?"

Virizion sighed to herself, " _I knew I should have told them to prepare for both sides."_ She cleared her throat before taking a single step forward. "Yes, take five minutes to decide your orders and positions for this next round."

 **000**

"Dhaunt, what the _hell_ was that?!" Summer growled, grabbing him by the chest and picking him up. "You played baseball before, right?!"

Marion frowned as she saw this, "Hey! Put him down, now!"

Summer tightened her glare before dropping him. Dhaunt sighed in relief before standing back on his feet and dusting himself off. "There's a reason I didn't volunteer in the first place! I suck at baseball unless I'm allowed to use moves!"

Annie facepalmed, "Why didn't you just say that to begin with!? We would've chosen Lassie instead!"

"You guys kept going and choosing people! At that point, I figured that your minds were made up!"

Marie groaned, resting her head against Anthony's, "Dhaunt. You know damn well that we want to _win_. If you sucked at baseball, you could have spoken up!"

Dhaunt sighed in disappointment. "Sorry…"

Anthony grumbled, "Well, at least tell us you're good at _catching_."

Dhaunt blinked before beginning to rub the back of his head, "Uh…"

Everyone groaned in exasperation and glowered at him. Marion glared back, "Hey! This is something that he's not good at. So what? I was the one talked him into still doing it! You guys aren't good at everything you do, so why berate Dhaunt for this?!"

Aura groaned, "Look, we don't want to go back on a losing streak after we actually won a challenge last time! So, sorry if we expected more out of someone who claimed to have experience and who barely even helps the team anyway!"

Marion gave her a look, "Aura, you and Aspen barely do anything these days either. Don't start that. What Pia said is true, a lot of us on the team barely contribute much of anything and it needs to change."

A moment of silence followed, but it was broken by Phill almost immediately, "So, are we gonna choose our spots or…"

 **000**

Ashton cleared her throat, "Okay, so I think that Kojo should go first since he's been doing pretty well with pitching. He could use the same force to swing the bat and hopefully get a home run."

Kojo shrugged, "Whatever."

Shine chimed in, "Sally can go next then. She's been doing a pretty good job as an umpire, so maybe she'll be able to handle the bat well."

Ashton nodded, "Then I'll go, followed by Ace, since we both have appendages that can help us handle the bat easily."

"I'll volunteer to go last," Holly chimed in. "I don't think I have much to offer for this, anyway."

Carson looked at her thoughtfully, "Holly, you can fly. As long as you're able to hit the ball and fly away quickly, you should be great!"

Holly sighed, "Even still, I'll do it."

The others exchanged looks. Sola looked back at her, "Well… Alright then. I'll go after Ace."

"I'll go before Holly," Connor spoke up. "Given that I'll probably be the worst one here, batting wise. "

"So, Carson will go after Sola, and I'll go after him," Shine explained. "Then Connor, then Holly."

Sally let out a sigh, "Alright, let's hope that they do as poorly as they just did…"

 **000**

Xerneas smacked her lips, watching as the players went to their new positions. After viewing the previous round, a thought entered the Life Pokemon's mind regarding the pitcher and umpire posts. She leaned down toward Virizion, "Baby, I think you should incorporate some baskets to hold the baseballs, that way they won't have to keep tossing the same one ball around…"

"Yeah, I was thinking that, too," Virizion responded. "Seeing Kojo miss the balls being thrown back to him is kind of annoying. No offense to him." She turned to Mew, who was eating from a bag of caramel corn, "Mew, can you put a basket full of baseballs next to the pitcher's mound and an empty basket behind home base, please?"

Mew nodded as he closed his eyes for a few seconds. Looking back on the field, the girls saw a basket full of baseballs appear next to the pitcher's mound and an empty one next to home base.

The Grassland Pokemon nodded, "Thanks, Mew."

Mew gave her a thumbs up before popping a few more pieces of caramel corn into his mouth. Virizion turned back to the field. She saw Kojo at home base, with Marie acting as the umpire, crouching behind him. Anthony stood at the pitcher's mound, reaching down to pick up a ball.

"Alright! If you all are ready, you guys may start… NOW!" she announced.

 **000**

Immediately upon hearing that, Anthony smirked, throwing the baseball toward Kojo. The Mienshao swung the bat, narrowly missing it as it zoomed past Marie's face.

"Strike one!" Virizion announced.

Kojo growled to himself as he watched Anthony pick up another baseball. The ermine gripped the bat harder, a focused glare on his face. The Blastoise threw another ball at him. Once it was close enough, Kojo struck the ball again, sending it flying.

Immediately, he sprinted toward first base. The ball soared over the heads of the Ho-Ohs, coming down near the outfield. Kojo decided to continue sprinting as the ball bounced on the flat, barren ground. Phill rushed to the ball as Kojo zoomed past Aura, who was guarding second base.

He looked back, to see Phill picking up the baseball and weakly throwing it in his direction. He chuckled, not paying attention before running right into Summer. The baseball was rolling toward third base, so Kojo just stepped on third base and decided to wait.

He smirked to himself as Summer sneered.

Seeing this, the others, rolled their eyes.

 **-000-**

In the stands, the spectators could only groan and roll their eyes.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm getting tired of their relationship BS," Taylor replied. "WE GET IT! YOU'RE A COUPLE! CAN YOU STOP LETTING IT INFLUENCE CHALLENGES, PLEASE!"

"Hey, leave them be," Morgan chimed in. "They're cute together, and they haven't even been distracting themselves as much as you think. Plus, you know that if you and Connor were alone together, you'd be all over him."

Taylor blushed, "That's not the point. They're on opposing teams, so they should keep their little kissy and lovey-dovey moments when we're _not_ in challenges."

Titan looked to Cramad and noticed the distant look she had on her face. She already had no pupils, but the overall vibe that the Parasect was giving off worried the Galvantula.

"You aight there, darlin'?" Titan queried.

The Cramad turned to him, "Come with me…"

She started walking away from the group of spectators, going to another part of the stands where they could only hear each other. Titan followed her, a bit confused by her actions.

Once they were a good distance away from the others, Cramad let out a sigh, "Listen Titan-"

"You're not gonna say you wanna divorce are you?" Titan immediately interrupted, worried because of her body language and the way she started.

Cramad blinked before smacking him, "NO!"

"Ow…" the Galvantula groaned. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot!" she exclaimed. "Why the hell would I ask for a divorce when we have no relationship problems!?"

Titan chuckled sheepishly, "Sorry, just used to stuff like that based on what's happened before…"

Cramad hummed, "Mhmm… But, we need to talk about how you're acting when it comes to the challenges…"

Titan rose a brow, "How do I act?"

Cramad groaned, "You act like I can't handle anything! You keep on trying to protect me when I'm a big girl that knows how to take care of herself!"

Titan blinked, looking down, "Oh… You think I'm treating you like a child…"

Cramad rolled her eyes, tapping him on the head, "Hon, I love you. But you need to get that I'm not the same confused, sheltered girl from years ago. I know how to handle things on my own."

Titan sighed, "I guess. I just worry, y'know. Things are kinda ruthless in this game and I don't want you to end up gettin' eliminated too soon."

Cramad nodded, "I understand that, but you need to let what happens happen. We're already planning on getting rid of Marion because of her annoying pestering, plus we have invincibility anyway, so calm down."

Titan grumbled, "Okay, fine…"

"Good boy," Cramad replied, kissing his cheek.

 **-000-**

Ace was currently up to bat, with Sally standing on second base and Ashton standing on first. Kojo had completed the first home run for the Lugias, meaning that he was finished. He was sitting against the wall, watching.

"Come on guys! You've gotta be more coordinated than that!" Summer shouted.

"Easier said than done!" Aura shouted back. "They're actually doing decent!"

Anthony threw the ball to Ace, who ended up swinging a bit too early, making the ball go right past him and Marie.

"Strike one!" Virizion shouted.

Anthony picked up another baseball and knocked on it a bit before throwing it toward the fairy-type. Ace watched the ball head in his direction as it zoomed by his face. He didn't even get to swing the bat.

"Strike two!"

Ace growled. He didn't want to strike out and be the cause of the first out for the team. That would be detrimental to his reputation and make him a liability to the team.

Anthony pulled his arm back before throwing the ball forcefully. Ace kept his eye on the ball and swung the bat, missing the ball by a just a few inches. He gaped in shock.

"Strike three! Ace is out!"

The Sylveon looked down in disappointment as he sulked back over to his team's line, getting behind Kojo. Seeing his dismal expression, Sola gave him a smile as she got to her feet to take her turn, "It's okay, Ace. You tried your best."

Ace sighed, "I didn't think I'd be _that_ bad. I mean, you're just hitting a ball-"

"-that is traveling toward you at varying speeds. And you have to hit it with a skinny-ish wooden object with enough force that it gets a far distance," Shine finished. "Not everyone is going to be great at it…"

Holly nodded, "Yeah, there's no guarantee that any of us will be great out there.

Ace sighed, "Thanks guys…"

 **000**

Fez flew around the island, rather than going back to bed like he claimed to be doing. He sighed to himself, relieved that he had immunity and that he was free to leave the stadium. He was never interested in baseball, so asking him to sit there and watch was the equivalent of the equivalent of asking him to watch paint dry.

He remembered seeing Lassie float out of the stadium as well, so he decided to go on and pay her a visit. He landed outside of the Winner's Cabin. He could hear the television still faintly playing, so he entered the cabins and saw Lassie sitting on the couch, turning a page of her book.

She didn't even look up from the book until Fez cleared his throat. She turned to him with a blank expression, "Hey Fez."

The Unfezant returned a smile, "Still reading that book I see…"

Lassie nodded, "Yeah, I'm almost done."

"Well, hopefully it doesn't turn you into Sabrina…" Fez joked.

Lassie huffed, "I'm certain that it won't. Cheating, lying, trust issues, they're all part of life and I get that. I'm not gonna hold a grudge against all people who make mistakes or do stupid things. Well, unless they directly harm me or my family in some way."

Fez nodded, "Understandable. And I'm glad that you won't become a vindictive bitch."

"I mean, my mom was a cheater her entire life, so why would be vindictive? I still lived decently," Lassie explained.

Fez chuckled, "So, how do you think the challenge is going?"

Lassie shrugged, "Eh, I don't really care either way. I've got immunity, so whether we win or not, I'm still safe."

"Yeah," Fez laughed before his look softened a bit. "Uh… Can I ask you a question?"

Lassie gave him a look, "You might as well, you're already engaging me in conversation."

Fez cleared his throat, "Well, uh… Do you have any girl advice for me?"

Lassie rose a brow at this question. It didn't make sense to her. "Uh… You were dating someone for over ten years and had sex with another girl. I don't really see why that question is proposed…"

"Sabrina is literally the only girl I was emotionally invested in," Fez explained. "The girl I had sex with just wanted a one night stand. And I doubt that elementary and middle school girlfriends count as real emotional investment."

"See, you still scored girls, so you don't need my advice," Lassie explained.

Fez sighed, "Can you just tell me if I'm good enough for you or girls like you?"

Lassie blinked in surprise, "Uh, I thought we agreed that we are never going to be a thing and rebounds are shallow?"

Fez gave her a look, "I'm not coming on to you. I'm just asking if I have qualities that girls like you would find attractive."

The Froslass gave him a look, "What do you mean 'girls like me'?"

"Feisty girls with attitude…" Fez explained simply.

Lassie stared at him for a few moments before sighing and closing her book, "Okay, one. Not all girls are the same. Two, just because I fit the category of girls you like doesn't mean that I'll know what other girls would like in a guy. And three, no offense, but I honestly don't find you attractive at all, so I wouldn't know what to say…"

Fez looked down in discontent upon hearing that, "I'm going to bed…"

He headed toward the back, leaving the Snow Land Pokemon to watch him go. Once he was out of sight, she picked up her book to resume reading it.

 **000**

" **Was that too blunt?" Lassie queried, "I don't really think so. I was just honest with him. I don't have any interest in him and he's relatively unattractive to me, so I don't have anything to say about him."**

" **It's nothing personal…"**

 **000**

Carson was currently up to bat for the Lugias. Sola was able to hit the ball far enough so that she could make it to first base. Sally sprinted as fast as she could from second base and was able to make it all the way to home base, finishing her turn. Ashton was less fortunate, as she was unable to even make it to second base without being declare out when the Aura tagged the base with the ball.

At the moment, Carson was taking a deep breath as he gripped the bat tightly.

Anthony smirked to himself, "Easy out!"

He threw the ball, with Carson being a bit confused at why he just shouted that. The zoomed right past him, hitting Marie in the face, but bouncing off of the mask.

Anthony chuckled, "Oops! Sorry sweet cheeks!"

Marie growled as she picked up the ball and tossed it into the basket beside her.

"Strike one!"

Carson blinked with a huff as he lifted the bat up once again, looking directly ahead.

Ashton spoke up, "Carson, just focus on the ball and hit it when it gets-"

"Strike two!"

Carson looked behind him and saw Marie toss another ball into the basket. "Wait! I didn't even see him throw it!"

"Should be paying better attention," Anthony snorted as he tossed a ball up in his hand.

Carson readied himself once again, not wanting to screw up the roll his team was on. He took a deep breath. Anthony threw the next ball at him. Carson swung the bat a bit too early, with the ball once again hitting Marie in the face.

"Strike three! Carson is out!" Virizion announced, "Switch places!"

"AND ANTHONY, I AM GOING TO RIP YOU A NEW ONE!" Marie snapped as she removed the mask and charged toward the Blastoise, who simply held out his arms as the Feraligatr charged toward him.

Carson sighed in disappointment as the others walked by, going back to their field positions.

 **000**

" **I'm trying to show that I'm actually capable, but I keep messing it up!" Carson vented. "I hope the others don't hold it against me."**

 **000**

Morgan sighed with a smile. She was pleasantly surprised with the team's progress so far. She didn't think that the team with more quadrupeds would be doing better at _baseball_ of all things. Seeing that they really _were_ doing well, she thought that she might as well leave. She wasn't really contributing anything anyway.

She walked toward the stairs, with Aspen noticing her. Although she wouldn't admit it, the Furfrou admired the Persian for an odd reason. She couldn't really pinpoint what it was, but something about her just clicked.

She decided to walk with her. They were both immune anyway, and Aura would likely understand her curiosity. She needed to branch out, anyway.

 **-000-**

"Hey, Morgan! Wait up!" the Persian's ears turned as she looked back and saw the Poodle Pokemon padding up behind her.

She was confused as to why she was following her, but given how she acted in her debut season and earlier this season, Morgan assumed that it was going to be a negative encounter. However, being the bigger person, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The Furfrou caught up to the Classy Cat Pokemon, who simply looked at her from the corner of her eye. "Hello Aspen…"

The Furfrou, hearing this tone, immediately sighed, "Look Morgan, I'm not here to pester you or insult you. I know that's all you think I'm here for."

Morgan rose a brow; she was able to figure out her presumptions rather easily. "Then, might I ask, why _are_ you walking with me right now? No offense, but you've never shown any interest in me before."

"I know," Aspen sighed. "And the truth is… I _don't_ know why I'm here. All I know is that I think you're a pretty cool girl. And… Now that I've thinking back, I think we're pretty much family, anyway."

Morgan was perplexed, as well as unamused. It was a very strange statement for her to hear from someone she barely even knew. "Family? What do you mean, family?"

"Well, you're married to Hex Freeman, right?"

Morgan gave had a look of suspicion on her face, "Yeah…"

"Well then yes, we _are_ family," Aspen explained. "Hex is my cousin, so I guess that there _was_ a reason I felt something."

Morgan gave her a look, "Hex never even mentioned you. Why should I believe that you guys are related?"

"His middle name is Maximilian and he has a birthmark in the shape of a question mark on his butt…" Aspen drawled.

Morgan gaped, "Wait, if you're really his cousin, why have I never seen you in any photo albums or at any family reunions?"

"You did see that there are a ton of Furfrou in our family, right?" Aspen responded with a giggle. "Plus, uh… My father isn't on the best of terms with my grandfather or Hex's father for that matter, so he doesn't really like going to any family gatherings, nor does he allow me to go with them sometimes."

"Then how come you know-"

"Hex's mom sneaks pictures over when dad isn't home. That's how I know so much about them," Aspen explained. "Sorry if this is too weird…"

"How come you never said anything before? Why did you still act like a bitch around him a few seasons back?"

"I don't know. Something about you just suddenly clicked with me," the Furfrou explained. "It's kinda weird. It's like you're around someone for a long time, not realizing who they are until a memory or thought gets you to acknowledge them."

Morgan gave her a look.

"And… I actually don't remember interacting with him on the show that much…" Aspen explained.

Morgan let out a sigh, "Okay, I believe you. So, what? I hope you don't expect things to be any different. We're still on opposite teams."

Aspen deadpanned, "And we're still both immune, anyway. Look, we can just talk or something?"

Morgan shrugged as they continued walking, "Fine by me…"

 **000**

" **Am I skeptical about this entire thing?" Morgan queried. "I'll be foolish not to be. After all of the years we've been on the show, she has never shown any interest in me** _ **or**_ **Hex. And, Hex never mentioned her before, and I'm pretty sure he'd let me know if his cousin was competing in the show."**

" **I'll play along for now and ask Hex when I'm able to get away from her."**

 **000**

" **Cousin… half-sister, what's the difference, right?" Aspen sheepishly said. "My mom and Uncle Carl had sex while she was in heat and my dad was on a business trip, and that's apparently where I really came from, but…"**

 **She let out a sigh, "Nobody's gonna believe me. Why the hell did I even bring it up? I should've just stuck with Aura. Trying to bond with new people is difficult for me unless they have a similar personality."**

" **Well, at least I can talk to my sister-in-law and hope that she stops thinking that I'm just out to get her."**

 **000**

"So, uh… Morgan, what type of things do you and Hex like to do outside of this stupid game?" Aspen queried as the two walked to the beach and lied down.

"Well, we don't really do much," Morgan explained. "Hex works at children's birthday parties and rakes in a lot of money due to his celebrity status and just because of how jolly he is when he deals with the kids. And, I'm a stay at home mom. But we honestly don't really have to do much since we're gonna be collecting royalties from the show. What about you?"

Aspen sighed, "Pretty much the same. Only difference is I'm already from a wealthy family, so money's not really much of an issue. I usually just go shopping and out with my boyfriend most of the time. Otherwise, we just sit at home and watch TV."

"Hey that still sounds like a fun time," Morgan replied. "Most of the time I'm just cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Alexa…"

Aspen smiled a bit at the mention of her niece. "Speaking of, how is she?"

Morgan giggled, "Alexa? She's a total daddy's girl. She almost always tries to sneak off with him to work and she sometimes cries when he leaves."

"Aww…" Aspen cooed. "And, um, is it hard to take care of her?"

"Hmm… Well, taking care kids is always a hassle. You have to clean up after them, feed them, give them attention, play with them, discipline them, buy them things to appease them… It's a lot of work, but seeing that cute smile and feeling that love is worth it."

Aspen smiled to herself. " _Maybe…"_

"So, and sorry for asking this, why were you acting like a bitch in your season and earlier this season?" Morgan queried.

Aspen sighed. She didn't really want to talk about what she did in the past, she wanted to just move forward as an adult. "Because I was an immature brat used to having everything go my way," she explained, looking down at the sand. "But, I'm an adult now and I've been trying to move past that."

Morgan nodded with a smile, "That's good to hear."

"Thanks," the Furfrou replied, a faint blush appearing on her face. She looked back at the direction of the stadium, growing a bit curious at her team's progress. "Uh, I'm gonna go back to the stadium. Talk to you later?"

"Oh, um… Sure," Morgan replied as Aspen rose up and started walking away.

The Persian narrowed her eyes at her as she left before rising up to her own feet. She started sprinting toward the jail, her curiosity piqued as to whether Hex knew about this or if she was just lying.

 **000**

Taylor yawned and smacked his lips as he watched the baseball game unfold. So far, Marion was at second base, while Klavier was at first base. Phill ended up striking himself out before Klavier went, and Annie was able to hit the ball, but Ace caught it with one of his ribbons, getting her out.

The Milotic rolled his eyes. Looking out at the field, he licked his lips, his eyes focused on Connor. He felt so excited. With Victini gone, he could likely 'get it in' without a worry. Just the thought of it alone made him drool a bit. He was just going to have to convince him after the challenge, or better yet, if they won, he'd _reward_ the Bouffalant.

As the naughty thoughts circulated in his head, he looked around and took notice of both Morgan and Aspen's absence. He rose a brow in confusion and suspicion. A few moments later, he noticed the Furfrou peek her head in the stadium entrance. She then made her way back to the stands and took a seat in her same place.

"And where did _you_ run off to?" Taylor queried, giving the Furfrou a look. "I would think that once _you_ left, you wouldn't come back to this snooze fest."

"You're not on my team, so I'm not obligated to answer," Aspen replied with a smirk.

"Uh huh… Well, do you happen to know where _my_ teammate went, then?"

Aspen gave him a look, "She's out and about."

Given the vague response, Taylor rolled his eyes, "Whatever…"

 **-000-**

Mew finished his bag of caramel corn and sighed as he watched Summer swing the bat and hit the ball hard. He turned to Xerneas, "Xerneas. Do you think we should lower the number of home runs needed? No offense, but they aren't that good at this, and I don't think any of us want to be here for hours on end waiting for each of them to get a home run."

Xerneas nodded in understanding before leaning down toward Virizion. "Mew says that we should get the challenge a bit low, because judging by their performances, we'll be here for hours…"

"Yeah, I was actually thinking about that, myself," Virizion replied with a nod. "I got it."

"ALRIGHT COMPETITORS! WE'RE HAVING A RULE CHANGE!" Virizion announced, getting everyone's attention. "Instead of all nine players getting a home run, you only require three as a whole. So, the Lugias only need one more homerun to win, while the Ho-Ohs still need all three!"

The Lugias all smiled, while the Ho-Ohs grumbled and glowered at each other.

"Now, let the challenge commence!" Virizion announced.

 **000**

Marie grumbled to herself as she stepped up to home base. She rose the bat as Kojo smirked to himself. He threw the ball at her. Marie was able to smack the ball hard, sending it flying.

Marion quickly ran to home base, earning the first home run for the Ho-Ohs. Ashton caught the ball with her vines and swiftly threw it toward Ace, who caught it with his ribbons just as Klavier flew up.

"And Klavier is out! Switch positions!"

The Ho-Ohs and Lugias swapped places once again. Many of the Ho-Ohs held peeved expressions. It felt like almost two hours had passed and they only had one home run. The number overall was pretty low as well, so they simply had to hope that they were able to strike out or get them out as they ran around the bases.

Anthony huffed as he clenched the ball in his hand tightly as Shine padded up to home base, a bat wrapped in her tail.

"And… BEGIN!" Virizion announced.

Anthony threw the ball as hard and fast as he could. Shine closed her eyes as the ball careened in her direction. She swiftly opened her eyes and swung the bat as hard as she could, sending it straight ahead, with it zooming past Aura and bouncing on the ground once before rolling.

The Espeon sprinted toward first base as Dhaunt ran up to the ball and threw it toward Phill, who ended up getting hit in the face with it.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, holding his nose. Grumbling to himself, the Mouse Pokemon threw the ball back to Anthony.

The Blastoise growled to himself before seeing Connor walking up with the bat in his mouth. He had to stifle a laugh, as did a few others. Hearing the snickers and seeing the looks on their faces, Connor only rolled his eyes.

"You can do it, baby!" he heard Taylor shout from the sidelines.

Connor chuckled to himself before focusing back on Anthony, who threw the ball. It zoomed under the bat and into Marie's glove.

"Strike one!"

The Lugias all sighed, having a feeling that this wasn't going to well given the Bouffalant's situation. Anthony picked up another ball with a smile before throwing it at Connor, who jerked his head to try to hit it, only to miss.

"Strike two!"

Connor already knew that he was going to be awful at this given his stature and anatomy, so he wasn't even disappointed. It was inevitable.

Anthony threw another ball at the Bouffalant. Connor didn't even move that time, but the ball ended up hitting the bat, as he had it held horizontally straight from his mouth. Seeing this, his eyes widened and he immediately started running.

Shine rushed toward second base, with Annie having to run toward the ball, as no one else was doing so. Because she did this, Shine saw that she could continue to run.

"Annie! Throw me the ball!" Anthony shouted, seeing both Shine and Connor continuing to run.

The petit Flower Pokemon threw the ball as hard as she could, which was no more than a few feet. Anthony growled as he rushed toward her to grab the ball as Shine tagged third base and headed back home.

Anthony smiled and threw the ball at Shine, but she was able to jump over the projectile, instead making the ball hit the wall near Holly's face.

"Hey! Watch it!" Klavier exclaimed with a glare.

"AND THE LUGIAS WIN!" Mew announced. The Lugias all cheered.

The Ho-Ohs growled in annoyance. They didn't need to lose more challenges! They had just gotten over a losing streak!

"Ho-Ohs, choose wisely during elimination tonight," Mew warned.

 **000**

Marie was sitting with Summer and Anthony, discussing who'd be the best choice for elimination. Marie took a breath while she sat on a rock, "Okay, so I feel like it's pretty obvious who our weakest links on the team are…"

"Annie, Dhaunt, Marion to an extent, Klavier, Phill, and Cramad to an extent," Anthony listed.

"Take Phill and Klavier off," Summer stated. "Not just because we're friends, but they're capable of more. Hell, Klavier helped in the egg challenge and could do more if given the opportunity. And Phill is just neutral at best. He's nowhere near as bad as Annie or Dhaunt."

Marie nodded, "Agreed. So, for now, I think we should cut Annie. She doesn't do anything but bitch lately, and she's too small to really aid in anything."

Anthony shrugged, "I can get behind that."

"Yeah, she's pretty useless," Summer commented. "Don't really know why we decided to keep her around this long…"

"Others has worse offenses that took the heat off of her," Marie reasoned. "But, that's not the case this time around. Nearly everyone did awful this time, except you, Summer. And maybe Marion since she _was_ the only one to get an actual home run…"

"Well, Annie's gonna be going," Anthony finalized. "I don't think anything will change that much..."

"I'll let Klavier and Phill know," Summer chimed in with a nod.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs all sat on their respective rocks, exchanging annoyed looks. Mew floated with with another bag of marshmallows, with Virizion and Xerneas on either side of him.

"Alright guys, you all know what happens here already, so we're just gonna go through everyone so that we don't waste your time," Virizion stated.

"First, immunity," Xerneas chimed in. "Fez, Lassie, Aspen, Titan, and Cramad, you all are safe."

They each caught their marshmallows that were tossed by Mew.

"Alright, not the rest of you. Marie, Anthony, Phill, Klavier, and Aura, you all are safe as well. No votes," Xerneas continued.

Summer, Marion, Dhaunt, and Annie were the last ones. Summer gaped in shock, "What the- WHY AM I IN THE BOTTOM?!"

"Guess you shouldn't have assaulted my husband…" Marion replied with her arms folded.

Summer bared her teeth in anger.

"Summer, you're also safe. Only one vote against you," Virizion stated as Mew tossed her a marshmallow.

The badger sneered before popping the sugary confection into her mouth. Marion rolled her eyes.

"Marion, you're safe as well. Only three votes against you," Virizion explained as Mew tossed her a marshmallow.

"Three vo-" Marion immediately thought about where _three_ specific votes could have come from. She turned to Annie with a glare.

Annie, noticing it, scoffed, "Look, sorry, but you were so annoying with your planning crap! On another note, why the heck am I in the bottom!?"

"Annie, Dhaunt, this is a very strange situation. You _both_ got the same number of votes," Virizion explained. "So, unless one of you wishes to voluntarily forfeit, we will go to a tiebreaker…"

"Nope, I'm good," Dhaunt spoke as he rose to his feet.

"What?!" Marion bellowed, standing up behind him. "Dhaunt, you don't have to leave! I'm sure you can beat _Annie_ in a tiebreaker!"

"HEY!"

"Marion, it's fine," Dhaunt replied. "I told you that I didn't even care anymore didn't I? I'd rather be at home than doing these challenges."

"But-"

"You'll be fine," he said, rubbing her back. He faced the legendary hosts, "I'm all ready to go at any time…"

"Well, then follow me," Mew said as he floated toward the dock. Dhaunt floated after him, while the girls walked behind them.

The remaining Ho-Ohs exchanged looks of distrust and annoyance before rising up in order to go to bed. Marion just sat on one of the rocks at the ceremony for a few moments, with Titan and Cramad watching her with worrisome eyes. Annie, seeing this, rolled her eyes before snapping them out of it and motioning for them to come.

 **000**

Dhaunt was inside of the elimination device, awaiting his ride away.

"Alright Dhaunt, we wish you the best and hopefully we won't have to see you or anyone else on this show again after this," Xerneas stated.

"Thanks. That would really be a dream come true," Dhaunt said with a smile.

"See ya, dude," Mew said as he pressed the button, sending him down the tube.

Once he was gone, Mew sighed, "Well, baseball was pretty boring, no offense."

"Sorry," Virizion apologized. "I didn't think that they'd all be _that_ bad at it. I was hoping that it'd be fun, not frustrating…"

"Well, it's fine. The contestants usually call my challenges boring anyway," Mew explained, "But hey, I'd rather be boring than psychotic…"

Xerneas giggled, "Well, hopefully my challenge will shine a little light on them."

"Yeah, we can only hope," Virizion responded, earning her a hip check from the deer.

 **000**

 **Yep. Dhaunt's gone now. Oh well, he didn't really care about the game anyway. Good on him. It would seem that the Ho-Ohs have a lot of tension, while the Lugias, despite their few 'issues', are doing relatively fine with each other. Weird… And yeah, pretty boring chap overall. Not much going on this time. Next time, however, will be a different story. So, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	20. The Song of My Pokemon!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the contestants played some baseball. Which was just as boring as it sounds, but we have a few events that occurred. We finally know how far Kojo and Summer are willing to go in their relationship, all because of a nightmare. Amethyst and Morgan gained a mutual distrust and dislike toward each other. It was revealed that Aspen is Hex's half-sister, and therefore Morgan's sister-in-law, and Fez is looking for girl advice from the wrong people. At the end of the day, the Ho-Ohs lost, and it was a tie between Annie and Dhaunt. And, as his choice, Dhaunt decided to go.**

 **What'll happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon…Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

The sun beamed down on the island after a light rainfall the day prior. All of the contestants were definitely having a much better time now than they did when Victini was hosting. Klavier sighed to himself as he sat on the steps of the Loser Cabin.

He and Holly hadn't really done much of anything lately, as he felt that she should still spend time with her friends, as they were equally important. He ended up waking up early, so he couldn't really do anything with _his_ friends at that point since Phill was still asleep, and Kojo was in the Winner's Cabin.

After a while, the Fang Scorpion Pokemon heard the squeaking of wheels and the bumping of metal. Looking toward the forest, he saw a familiar Dragonite approach with a wagon full of foil covered plates.

"Hey Colton," the ground- and flying-type greeted, waving a claw.

"Hiya," the Dragonite responded with a smile as he pulled the wagon up to the cabin. He picked up a stack of plates before handing them to the Gliscor, who placed them to the side of him.

Seeing the bedroom eyes and smile on the pseudo-legendary, Klavier couldn't help but raise a brow. "You're awfully happy."

Colton, much to Klavier's surprise, giggled. "Well, when you have a big, strong man that knows _all_ the right buttons to press, you'd be happy, too."

"Uh… Out of curiosity, how does that _feel_?" Klavier queried. "Is there any pain involved in either parties?"

Colton rose a brow, "It stung a bit when I first started taking him in, but after that, it started feeling so… Exhilarating. Why do you ask? I thought that you were straight."

Klavier blinked as a blush spread on his face, "I _am_. I meant just… Sex in general."

Colton blinked in confusion, "Wait… Are you… A virgin?!"

Klavier sighed in embarrassment, Yes… But, it's my own fault. I spent so much time chasing a girl that didn't need to be chased that I lost ample opportunities for one night stands. Although, I probably wouldn't have taken them anyway..."

Getting that response, Colton gave him a look of pity, patting his shoulder. "And that's why _I_ don't waste my time with girls. There's way too many hormones and too much emotion to handle, they're high maintenance, they expect you to give them the world…"

Klavier cleared his throat, interrupting Colton's tirade, "I'm still dating a girl. I just… Wanted to know how sex feels. I'm not saying that it's gonna happen any time soon, but I'd just like to get an idea of what it'll be like."

Colton hummed, "Hmm, well that varies from person to person, so my description may not be the best for you. Maybe you can talk to Tyson about it sometime since he's had a girlfriend before."

Klavier sighed, "Maybe."

"You'll understand it better soon. Maybe you just need to watch some porn," Colton suggested.

The Gliscor's gray face turned a slight crimson tint upon being told that. "Uh, I don't think that'll help me…"

The Dragonite shrugged as he started walking away with the wagon, "You'll never know."

After he left, Klavier sighed, looking at the plates of food.

 **000**

" **I was just a bit curious. I wanted to know whenever it finally** _ **does**_ **happen," Klavier explained. "I'm not going to force Holly into anything nor do I even think it's time for it. We still haven't been on enough dates or been together long enough in my opinion."**

 **He sighed, "Arceus, I sound like such a loser."**

 **000**

Morgan ended up sleeping inside of the jail, as after talking with Hex, she decided to a bit of cuddle time would be good for both of them.

The Stoutland was lying over the Persian, blanketing her with his abundance of fur, as well as the actual blanket of the bed. Morgan's eyes slowly flickered open as she attempted to stretch her body while underneath her still sleeping husband.

She ended up lifting the larger canine with her rear for a few seconds before dropping it back down onto the bed. The sudden drop woke the Big-Hearted Pokemon, who immediately lifted his head a bit. "Morgan, did you feel that?" he asked groggily.

Morgan giggled, "That was me, sweetie. Just needed to stretch."

Hex yawned as he got off of Morgan and lied beside her. The two of them locked lips for a few seconds. Morgan purred after breaking the kiss, nuzzling him.

Hex took a deep breath, looking down. Hearing this, Morgan grew a bit concerned. They had spoken about the situation yesterday, and he apparently had been watching the live feed, so he was completely confused and afraid.

"You still thinking about the Aspen thing?" she queried.

"Yeah…" Hex replied. "I just… I can't believe that they never told us about her!"

"I still can't believe that she's your sister. She told me that she was your cousin," Morgan explained.

"I thought she was, too. Well, until I saw the live feed and she explained what her mother apparently told her. And according to my mother, it's true…" Hex sighed. "And the worst thing is, apparently they planned it and never told us!"

Morgan tilted her head in confusion, "Wait, what do you mean planned it?"

Hex sighed, "I called my parents as soon as I saw the live feed. My dad explained that it was mom's idea to have a threesome with both her and Aspen's mom because her husband was on a business trip and never interested in sex unless _he_ wants to do it. So, they had a threesome, I guess that's when mom got pregnant with me, and Aspen's mom got pregnant with her…"

Morgan sighed. It was so convoluted and stupid to her that it made her head hurt. "Well, you have another little, or big, sister now. And once this is all over, maybe you guys can have some bonding time."

"Yeah, hopefully," Hex stated, looking down. He growled, "I still can't believe that they lied to us for so long!"

"I know, I know…" Morgan said, rubbing his back. "But, she's still family and you'll still love her the same, right?"

Hex smiled to himself. "Yeah, I guess…"

Morgan kissed his cheek.

Hex accepted the kiss before turning his head and planting another kiss on her lips, "And, it seems like _you'll_ be the one bonding more with her now that you two are talking."

"Well, she's on the opposite team," Morgan explained thoughtfully. "If we make it to the merge, maybe…"

Hex immediately pinned the Persian down on the bed with a playful growl. He gave her the puppy-dog eyes. " _Please…_ "

Morgan gave him a look shifting her lower body a bit, making his eyes widen, as he knew what she'd just done, "I'll need a little _incentive~_."

Hex could only blush.

 **000**

 **Morgan sighed blissfully, "I love him so much…"**

 **She cleared her throat, "I'm still debating on whether or not I should let the others know about Aspen. It feels like a family matter, but the girls and Ace are very good friends of mine. Plus, they'll end up finding it out anyway when they watch the show."**

" **Well, Aspen is actually family," she concluded. "It's still weird to think about. But, we've began talking and that's a start…"**

 **000**

"So, we need to talk about this little, I'm assuming, alliance," Marie spoke as she sat in bed with her arms folded. Her eyes were focused on Annie and Marion. Annie was glaring, while Marion sat facing away from the rest of them.

Annie scoffed, "Like there's anything to discuss. It's pretty obvious that there isn't an alliance anymore."

Marie huffed, " _Right_ …"

"Uh, I recall you mentioning some type of annoyance with Marion," Aura replied. "What was she doing in particular that you deemed 'annoying'?"

"She was insisting that we listen to what Pia said and vote some people out according to that and that floating through the game no longer works since people actually notice it now," Annie explained, folding her arms.

The girls exchanged looks, as what she said didn't sound stupid and was actually sensible.

"And… What part of that was even remotely annoying?" Aspen queried. "That actually sounds like common sense."

"How would you feel if someone kept pestering you about the same thing over and over again?" Annie countered. "Annoyed, right?"

"And you know what to do when you're feeling that way, right?" Aspen responded. "Ignore or talk to them about it, right?"

Annie growled, "We talk to her and tell her to calm down with that, but she still does it another day!"

Lassie, being Marion's friend, decided to speak to her. "Marion, anything you want to add or say to defend yourself?"

Marion lied down on the bed, still facing away from them, "I don't care. You guys are probably gonna vote me out next anyway for trying to make it further."

"Uh… Marion, this is still a competition. The goal is to keep everyone else from making it to the end," Cramad explained. "It's gonna happen to everyone eventually. Except for two of us..."

"If anything, we'd vote you out for being useless or screwing up, which you haven't, really," Marie explained. "You saw who our target was…"

"And I don't really appreciate that!" Annie exclaimed.

"Then be more useful," Marie countered with a stern glare.

"Why don't you ever decide to get on your friend girl for possibly screwing us over?" Annie queried. "She seems awfully defensive about Kojo and keeping him in the game. We've been on this losing streak, and she gets to sleep in the Winner's Cabin either way, embraced by her boy toy or not. And who knows? She's probably telling him all of our strengths and weaknesses so that they have the upper hand in the challenges…"

Marie glared at her as she continued, "And you're just stuck in here with the rest of us, making sure that she stays in the game when, at this point, you don't matter. All that matters is her… and precious little Kojo…"

"Shut up Annie…" Lassie spoke up. "Seriously, what have you even done for this team? Just because Summer actually has a man and he _happens_ to be on the other team, doesn't mean that she's betraying us. Hell, Egridos was on a different team and I never said anything to him regarding the team!"

"And you never really went into the Winner's Cabin when we lost now did you?" Annie retorted. "All I'm saying is… Summer might as well be on the other team if she's gonna jump ship as soon as we lose…"

"She's free to do whatever she wants when we're not in the challenges," Aura defended. "Seriously, get over yourself."

" _You_ get over yourself, we all know that you still crave Shine's husband!"

"Okay, this conversation is over," Aspen declared with a growl, standing up in her bed.

Annie huffed, "Good. I don't need to be in here anyway since I'm _so_ useless…"

The small grass-type immediately headed to the door. She exited before slamming it shut behind her.

Once she was gone, the girls exchanged looks. Lassie smacked her lips, "So, all in favor of getting rid of her the next time we lose say 'aye'..."

"Aye," Marie deadpanned.

"Aye," Aspen and Aura stated simultaneously.

"Aye," Marion stated in a somber tone.

Cramad didn't say a word, as she preferred not to get involved. She agreed that Annie _was_ acting a bit more reckless and irritating than usual, but she was still her friend. The other girls noticed her silence, narrowing their eyes at her.

The Parasect sweatdropped.

 **000**

" **Okay, uh… Not so sure how safe we're gonna be in the game now," Cramad said. "And just when I was going to start acting more…"**

 **000**

Sola stretched as she woke up in her bed, a smile on her face. "Arceus, it feels great to be in here again."

The Absol turned to the right and saw that Morgan wasn't in her bed. She rose a brow at this, turning to the others, "Uh, guys… Has anyone seen Morgan?"

Shine yawned as she sat up, "She's not in her bed?"

"Apparently not," she replied.

"Actually," Ace yawned, rubbing his eyes, "I haven't seen her since the challenge."

Sally spoke up, "Same here. I have no idea where she went, either."

Shine stretched, popping her back as she hopped off of the bed. She shrugged, "She probably just at the jail. We practically put an entire bedroom in there, remember?"

"Oh, right…" Sola recalled. A smile grew on her face, "Well, let's hope that she doesn't get pregnant again…"

Sally shook her head playfully, "Okay Sola, seriously, what's with your libido lately? Lately, sexual things have been on your mind 24/7."

Sola giggled in return, "Well, I don't know why, but lately I've just been thinking about my man plowing me with both of us in our mega forms. We've tried it four times and every time it was… _Very messy_. But, it's still amazing to think about. And, I can't wait to go home and, hopefully, I'll be able to get pregnant."

"So, the sex was _that_ good?" Ace queried. He hummed, "I wish Chase and I had mega forms."

Just then, the door the creaked open and a familiar feline walked inside, walking rather shakily. She greeted the others, who looked at her with small smiles. Seeing the looks, the Persian blushed as she reached her bed, "Uh… Hi?"

Sally teased, "And where have you been?"

"I was with Hex," she responded simply. "I was already going there after seeing that you guys had everything under control. We had some… _Shocking_ information come up regarding his family and uh… We just fell asleep together."

"Uh huh… 'Fell asleep'," Sola taunted. "We know that by how you walked in that something more happened."

"Uh… yeah. We had some _fun_ this morning," Morgan shrugged it off. "Nothing new."

"So, what happened regarding his family?" Shine queried. "Did someone die?"

"Uh no, no… We just found out that Aspen is actually his sister," Morgan explained. "It doesn't really change anything ."

The girls and Ace were agape in shock, unable to process this new information immediately.

Sally held her head whilst shaking it, "Wait, wait, wait… _Aspen_ is Hex's _sister_? How did you procure this information?"

Morgan sighed, "Uh… Well, Aspen said that she was his cousin at first, but Hex was watching the live feed and in the confessional, she brought up half-sister. Because he didn't know about this, he called his parents, and he found out that it was true."

"Wow, that's got to be a lot to take in," Ace stated, using one of his ribbons to rub his head.

Sola hummed, "So that means that Aspen's pretty much your sister-in-law?"

Morgan nodded, "Yeah, but it's fine. We're still on different teams. Family or not, this is still a competition."

The others nodded in understanding.

"Well, we're gonna go and get some breakfast," Shine commented as she started heading to the door. Sally and Ace followed her, with Sola beginning to do the same. Before exiting, she turned to Morgan, "You want me to bring you back anything, or are you already filled up?"

Morgan gave her a deadpan look.

 **000**

Kojo, Phill, and Klavier were sitting on the beach. The three of them hadn't truly spoken alone in a while. As they sat in the grains on the ground, they spoke about what had been going on with their girls when they weren't together and their plans after the game.

"Wow, so, you're really gonna ask Summer to marry you after this is over?" Phill asked, completely astonished by the Mienshao's plans.

"It's not going to be immediate. We still need at least another month or two out of this game. Then I'll decide…" Kojo explained.

"Aw… My little boy's all grown up," Phill fake cried, wiping one of his imaginary tears. "But really man, that's awesome."

Klavier let out a sigh upon hearing that. The guys turned to him in confusion.

Phill queried, "You okay, dude?"

Klavier sighed as a small blush appear on his face, "Well, uh… I asked Colton about how sex feels and I felt embarrassed. I was just curious."

"You asked a gay guy how sex felt?" Kojo chuckled. "Bro, you kinda signed yourself up for-"

"No! I'm embarrassed because I asked in general!" Klavier exclaimed. "I just… I feel like a loser for not knowing how sex feels."

"Dude, I'm a nearly forty-year-old virgin and I already know that I'm a loser already. It's not really that big of a difference between being a normal person," Phill explained with a shrug. "Well, other than low self-esteem and the occasional mocking from the less intelligent…"

Klavier looked down, leading to Kojo elbowing Phill. The Mouse Pokemon rubbed his shoulder as Kojo cleared his throat, "You're not a loser, dude. We all were curious about sex before, it's not that big of a deal…"

Just then, a thought entered Klavier's head. "Kojo, you've had sex with your ex, right?"

Kojo blinked in response before folding his arms with a blush. "Y-yeah…"

The Gliscor nodded, "How did it feel?"

Kojo rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, I'm not really sure if this'll help you look _forward_ to your experience. But… My first time with Floatzelle was a bit… _Off-putting_. She wasn't really uh… Well… _Gripping,_ I barely felt anything, she never really showed that she liked it…"

"In other words, Klavier, Floatzelle was a slut with no walls, so the experience was very poor for him," Phill explained, smacking the Mienshao's back, making him flinch. " _But_ , maybe with Summer…"

Kojo immediately glowered at the brown mouse, "Don't…"

Phill chuckled to himself, making Klavier look down once more. Kojo smacked his lips, rolling his eyes. "Bro, you don't need to know how it feels before it happens. It's all a part of the experience. If you know beforehand, it ruins the surprise."

Klavier looked at him briefly before looking back down, "I guess you're right."

After a few minutes, the flapping of wings was heard. They all turned to see Fez land next to them, a look of depression on his face.

Phill greeted, "Oh, hey Fez."

The Unfezant walked up to them before sitting next to them. He let out a dismal sigh before turning to them. "Guys, do you think you can help me?"

Kojo rose a brow, "Help you with what?"

"I have girl issues," he explained vaguely. "Do you guys know what girls would find attractive in a guy like me?"

"Dude, you were dating someone already and you apparently had sex with someone else that ruined the original relationship," Phill recalled.

The Proud Pokemon groaned, "Lassie told me the same thing before. She also said that I'm unattractive to her, which dampened my mood a bit more. I'm just trying to get some advice so that I can get another girl like Sabrina and Lassie. Heck, even Summer, only less violent."

Kojo chuckled before the scope of his request truly hit. "Wait, if Sabrina broke it off with you and was pretty brash, why would you want another girl exactly like her?"

"And no offense to Lassie, but, she's not that good looking either," Phill chimed in. "Plus, she was with _Egridos._ I don't think her opinion really matters if she found an annoying coffin with ghost arms attractive."

"I just… I like girls that have fight in there. Sassiness and feistiness is a big turn on for me," Fez explained. "So, sorry if it's weird."

Kojo waved away his concern, "Hey, it's fine dude. People have their kinks…"

"Like your feet thing?" Phill teased.

Kojo shrugged, "Pretty much."

"Well, do you have an idea on how I can attract another girl like that? Sabrina was a mutual attraction in second season, and I don't know how to redo that," Fez queried.

The Raticate rose a brow, "Why not just wait for the right girl to come to you? Chasing a girl that you either don't know or who's already taken doesn't end well."

Klavier groaned, "I know from experience."

Fez gave him a look, making the Gliscor look away in embarrassment. He sighed, "Then what do I do? Just wait?"

Kojo, Phill, and Klavier exchanged looks. Kojo looked at him, "I mean, are you in a big rush to find a girlfriend?"

"Well… No, not really, I'd just like to know the qualities that'll help me attract _more_ girls," he explained. "I mean, even when I was with Sabrina, barely anyway girls looked my way."

"CONTESTANTS! PLEASE REPORT TO THE STADIUM ONCE AGAIN FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

Kojo sighed, "Just be yourself, dude. If Sabrina found you attractive normally, why wouldn't other girls?"

Phill nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I think you're just overthinking it."

Fez looked down. Maybe they were right, he was just being himself when he got with Sabrina and it worked, albeit he could remember a bit of flirting. He let out a sigh as he watched the guys start heading to the stadium.

"Hey, wait up!"

 **000**

All of the contestants made it to the stadium once again. Upon entering, they saw that the baseball diamond was no longer there. Instead, there was a large stadium sitting there. There was a smaller white table sitting in front of it. Behind the table, there were two large sets of silver bleachers, similar to the ones found in school gyms.

Aura tilted her head in confusion, "A stage?"

"Must be a talent show," Ashton presumed.

A voice rang out from behind them, "Close."

Turning to the source, their eyes widened as they saw Xerneas strut into the stadium wearing a tight, leathery, light purple bodysuit. Virizion followed suit, wearing a light pink bodysuit and having matching eyeliner along with it. Finally, Mew floated in with a disgruntled look, as he simply wore a black shirt with a suit design on it.

The feline in question gazed to Xerneas and deadpanned, "Remind me again. Why're we wearing these things?"

"Because we're the hosts _and_ judges. We have to look respectable, sexy, and fun all at the same time," Xerneas explained with a smile.

Mew folded his arms, giving both girls a look, "And you each decided to pick out pieces from your Cobalion Kink Collection to pull that off?"

Virizion hummed, looking at the contestants, who seemed to still be in a daze. She cleared her throat, "Well, given the looks that the contestants are giving us, I can say that it works."

Mew and Xerneas turned their attention to the contestants, who were still staring at them. Mew sighed, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

The contestants flinched, but Mew was successful in bringing them out of their trance-like states. Now with their attention, Xerneas cleared her throat, "Hello competitors and welcome to your next challenge! So You Think You Can Sing!"

"Oh, so _not_ a talent show?" Carson queried.

"Not necessarily," Xerneas explained. "This challenge will be rather simple. Each team will choose five players to perform a song of their choosing. After you perform the songs, Mew, Virizion, and I will judge you on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how well you sounded, and how engaged we are with it."

"And you will receive extra points for originality," Mew added.

Virizion nodded, "Oh yes. Actually coming up with an original work will boost your points rapidly, especially if it is performed well."

"Now, unlike prior seasons where singing was involved, this time you guys are able to practice and prepare beforehand. We're going to give you… Two hours to get yourselves ready," Mew explained.

Xerneas chimed in, "However, when you choose your five, know that you will also be giving them immunity. So you cannot automatically pile on votes for them if they fumble and screw up."

The contestants were shocked at that rule. It didn't really make sense to them!

"What!?" Annie exclaimed. "How is that fair? If they screw up, they deserve to be voted out!"

"Uh huh, meanwhile, you guys will the ones choosing them to go up based on what _you_ think is good," Xerneas explained. "Then, you'll just be watching them and condemn then when they ever stutter."

"Essentially, this is just going to be a more difficult vote, and an inverse of what Virizion did yesterday," Mew explained. "Instead of the non-participants getting immunity despite not even doing anything, the participants of this _will_."

A few of the competitors were still skeptical, while others found themselves understanding.

"Now, go get yourselves ready," Virizion explained. "There are laptops at the gazebo, as well as an assortment of instruments, journals, pens, etc."

The contestants exchanged looks before beginning to leave the stadium. Once they were all out, Virizion eyed Xerneas with a smile. "These suits were a great idea… It really accents those hips of yours."

Xerneas giggled, "Yours, too."

The girls shared a kiss, causing Mew to blush and groan.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs made it to the gazebo first, and saw that what Virizion said was true. There were a couple of laptops, a few writing tablets, and four cardboard boxes filled with various instruments and cords..

Seeing this, Phill let out a sigh as he turned to the others, "Okay, so who is the best singer here?"

Annie immediately started vocalizing, getting everyone's attention. Her voice sounded very raspy, yet shrill at the same time, leading to the others gazing at her unfavorably. She ceased her 'singing', seeing the unimpressed expressions she was getting from everyone.

Aspen spoke, "Yeah, I'm gonna need you to _never_ do that again."

The Bellossom scoffed, folding her arms, "As if _you_ could do any better."

Aspen gave her a look, "I know that I couldn't, that's why I'm not going to attempt it."

"Is there anyone here that can _actually_ sing?!" Anthony stated.

The other members of the team were silent, until Marion started talking, "I mean… I guess _I_ can give it a go."

Annie rolled her eyes, "Oh please. You're just trying to save yourself…"

"Annie, you sounded like feral Meowth scratching against a dumpster. Hush," Summer stated with a glare.

"And you're practically on the other team since you're always fornicating with the enemy…" Annie stated. "So, you might as well keep yourself silent or go to your lame-o boyfriend."

Summer glared and took a step toward her, but Marie held her arm out to keep her back. The Typhlosion growled at the Bellossom, "Be lucky that none of us can die, because I would reduce you to ashes in _instant_."

"Okay, so we've got Marion, we still need four other people," Marie reasoned. "Know that you don't have to be a _remarkable_ singer. You just have to sound decent enough to get us a good score."

Phill nudged Klavier immediately. The Gliscor looked at him in confusion, "What?"

"Do it," he said. "You'll prove yourself more, _and_ maybe you'll impress _Holly_ a bit more."

Klavier's face turned as red as a Tamato Berry at the mention of her. He gulped in nervousness, as he was unsure about his capabilities. He only ever sang to himself when he was bored, after all. "Um… I-I guess I can go."

Marie was hesitant, as Klavier didn't seem to be the type to be a singer, "Hmm… Alright, I guess."

"What? So _he_ gets to have a shot despite-"

"Annie, just SHUT UP!" Anthony shouted. "Arceus, you are acting like a worse version of Pia!"

Fez agreed, "Yeah, lately, you've just been a complete bitch. You used to be a lot nicer."

Annie looked at them with a glare before her look softened and she sighed to herself. She closed her eyes, "Just focus on the challenge, okay?"

The Bellossom started walking away, with Cramad and Titan exchanging looks. "Uh… I'll go check on her," the Galvantula spoke.

"Whatever," Aura rolled her eyes.

Titan walked away, following the Flower Pokemon.

Marie deadpanned, "Guys, can we please focus? We only have Klavier and Marion and we still need three more people."

The previously infuriated Typhlosion rubbed her arm sheepishly, "I mean… I can try it out."

The others stared at her momentarily. Lassie rose a brow, "You sing?"

"Well, whenever I walked outside, I'd have headphones in I'd sing to myself," she explained. "People would say I sounded nice or something, so…"

"Okay, so that's three," Marie concluded. "Phill, Cramad, Aura, Lassie, Fez? Anything?"

"Hey, what about you and Anthony? You seemed to automatically exclude yourselves," Fez countered.

"And what does that tell you about how we fare when it comes to singing?" the Blastoise queried sarcastically. "If we were able to sing, we'd happily take the immunity."

Upon being reminded of the immunity, Fez's eyes widened. "I'm in!"

Anthony and Marie exchanged looks.

"I guess I'll participate, too," Lassie said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not much of a singer, but I'll try it."

"Alright, good," Marie commented. "Now you guys need to either choose your songs, or get writing. We've got two hours."

Phill rose a brow, "And what do the rest of us do?"

"We can actually support and offer help to our teammates …" Marie offered. " _Or_ , you can just go back to bed or… Whatever, until it's time to go back."

"Sounds good enough to me," Phill stated as he started walking away. Seeing this, Cramad decided to go after Titan and Annie, as she wasn't going to be of any use to this challenge anyway.

They watched them leave the gazebo, as Summer walked over to the laptop and sat down in front of it. "I think I'm just sing my favorite song, so what do you guys need to look up the lyrics for? If you don't have a song idea already?"

Marion shrugged, "I'm just gonna write my own song."

"Hmm… I think I'll do that, too," Fez spoke with a smile.

Marie nodded in approval, "Okay, that sounds good. It'll get us more points with the judges. Lassie? Klavier? What about you guys?"

Lassie gave her a look, "Like I said, I'm not much of a singer _,_ so I'm pretty sure that means that songwriting is out, too."

Klavier nodded affirmatively at Lassie's words, "And I don't think that I'll be able to settle on any type of topic to write about. I'll just stick to singing along to songs."

"Well, we have two hours, so you guys have time to really decide on what you're doing, writing or not," Marie reminded. "And, ghostwriting is a thing, so we can help if you want to write and possibly earn us more points."

The Froslass rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

Summer, seeing that Lassie and Klavier were leaving the area. Seeing this, she shrugged, deciding to start searching things online. Marie and Anthony sat down next to her, as Marion picked up a tablet and pen. Fez did the same as the two began walking away.

 **000**

The Lugias were in front of the Winner's Cabin, not wanting to go to the gazebo just yet. They didn't want the opposing team to possibly steal their ideas.

Morgan let out a sigh, "Alright, are there any volunteers for this challenge? It's pretty easy."

"I'll go," Sally shrugged. "I mean, I'm not _that_ bad of a singer, anyway. Jet thinks I'm good, anyway."

After hearing this, Amethyst nudged Ashton and Carson, urging them to participate. Ashton blushed faintly, not thinking that she was that good of a singer, while Carson was nervous overall.

 **000**

" **I had a conversation with the others earlier, and we agreed that we all needed to actually show that we well…** _ **exist**_ **," Amethyst explained. "We've been sliding by because of others on the team being less valuable and influential, but now that I know that Connor and Taylor aren't on our side, we're gonna have to make ourselves known as worthy players. Ashton did well in the last challenge, Holly still has nothing for her really, and neither does Carson."**

" **And, if we win more challenges, sure, we run the risk of being picked off in the merge,** _ **but**_ **, we'll still be able to get rid of the bigger threats later…"**

 **000**

"I… Guess I'll participate this time," Ashton spoke. "More participation points couldn't hurt…"

Morgan eyed her with uncertainty, having noticed Amethyst nudge both her and Carson, "How well can you sing?"

Ashton sweatdropped, "Uh… I think I'm a decent singer."

"Hey, what's with the interrogation?" Amethyst queried. "You asked for volunteers and she's volunteering. There shouldn't be any questions. You didn't question Sally."

"Uh… Amethyst, we actually want to _win_ this next challenge, so choosing people with the best capabilities is the main priority," Shine explained. "There are only twelve of us left, and we don't need players who are just in it for the immunity and lack the skill required for the challenge."

Amethyst sighed, "Fine, but Ashton still _is_ a decent singer, just like Sally said that she was."

"Okay, so she is another option," Shine replied. "Anyone else want to volunteer?"

The remaining ten others exchanged looks before Carson sighed, raising up an arm. "I-I'll go. I let you guys down in the last challenge, so… I'll try to make it up to you this time."

" _Try_ …" Morgan echoed in her head. She huffed to herself. "Okay. So we have Sally, Ashton and Carson. Anyone else want to willingly volunteer?"

The others remained silent. A small smile grew on Sola's face as she turned to Kojo who was relaxing on the steps, staring at the sky. "Oh _Adam…_ "

Kojo immediately groaned, throwing his head back, " _Whyyyy_?"

"Have you ever been in a movie where singing was involved?" the Absol queried.

Kojo sighed, knowing where this was going, "Yes…"

"Well, why don't you help us out and participate? You've been a pretty key player for us lately," she complimented.

Kojo gave her a look, "Because lately I feel like I play too much of a role in these challenges. I had to carry everything and rush across a pit of bubbling liquid in the Guess Who challenge; we all had to think together in the waste challenge; I got my ass kicked by a Ludicolo while it was raining and fell into a pit of sludge and waste in the egg challenge, and I was the pitcher and was at risk of getting hit by baseballs in the last challenge."

"Okay, and this time you don't have a risk of getting really hurt. It's just _singing_ ," Taylor emphasized.

Holly, being a good friend of Kojo's at that point, tried to think of a solution. Kojo _had_ been doing well in the challenges. One could even say that him being the only 'loner' on the team was extremely beneficial due to his lack of ties to anyone there, so he was easily the most usable. However, she was still fond of him due to him being one of Klavier's best friends, _and_ he did really deserve a bit of a break.

Holly flew onto the Mienshao's shoulder, "Kojo, how about we make an agreement?"

Kojo rose a brow at the Swoobat's offer, "What kind of agreement?"

"Well, since you pretty much are one of the biggest helpers on the team, I think you deserve a break. So, I say that if you participate in this challenge, you don't have to do anything major for the team anymore," she explained.

"What?!" Taylor exclaimed. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! If he's supposedly a major contributor, why would we want to retire him?!"

"Yeah, to be honest Holly, that doesn't sound like the brightest of ideas," Connor chimed in.

Morgan hummed, "Okay, let's make some adjustments to that. Instead of not _anymore_ , but… Not as _often_? But, Kojo, you need to understand that you and Sally are the only ones here who can walk on two feet with no issue and actually hold and carry things while walking. Sorry if you feel like you've been feeling 'overworked' lately."

The Martial Arts Pokemon sighed. He understood the plight of the team, as they lacked bipedal players, but here, it didn't really matter. This wasn't physical, it was just singing. But, as he thought about it, he realized that he could sing something for Summer. With that thought fresh in his mind, he shook his head of his thoughts.

He inhaled sharply, "Fine…"

"And to just fill in the final gap, I guess I'll go," Shine shrugged, rubbing her eyes.

Amethyst gave her a look, "And how well can _you_ sing?"

Sola chimed in, "She can sing pretty well. I've heard her sing to Spike before."

Ace nodded, "Okay, so we've got all five of our singers."

"Now we need to figure out the songs part," Connor stated. "What are you guys gonna do? Write one or sing a pre-existing one?"

"Well, pre-existing seems to be the easiest way to go," Holly commented. "They'll actually have a beat of sorts to work with already. Writing would include learning to play an instrument or finding a random beat online."

"But it's also extra points," Taylor added.

Ace thought about it, "They never really specified with that. Like, do they just tack them on later or does that mean something bigger than a 10 is possible?"

"We'll just have to wait to find out," Morgan said. "For now, we need to help out and make sure that you guys are the best that you can be."

Kojo sighed as he got on his feet. "Well, I'm gonna go and try to write my own song."

"Oh, uh… Okay?" Morgan queried, raising a brow as the Mienshao left.

"Well, let's go to the gazebo and get the-"

"Wait. What if the other team is still there?" Sally queried.

"Who cares?" Taylor queried. "What are they gonna do? Steal your voices?"

Just then, a table, a box of instruments, and a laptop were teleported in front of them. Shine's glowing eyes faded as she stretched. "There, problem solved."

"Alright," Sally said, taking a seat at the table. "So, what kind of songs are we looking for?"

 **000**

Annie was sitting in the forest, with Clay sitting beside her. She sighed, "I've fucked up, haven't I?"

"I'd say so," Clay nodded. "Good to see you admitting it."

Annie gave him a look, making him shrug. Titan walked up, exiting the bushes. Spitting out leaves, the Galvantula approached the two. "Ey. You okay, Annie?"

The Bellossom sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… thinking. I've been acting really awful lately and I guess Fez mentioning my former kindness kinda… Made me feel like shit. It sucks…"

"Yeah, I admit, it _was_ getting a bit annoying hearing you complain a lot," Titan explained. "I dunno what brought that on, but maybe you should try to calm down. It's pretty obvious that the others-"

More rustling was heard from the bushes, causing him to pause. Cramad emerged from the shrubbery, "Annie, you've really gotta stop with the attitude. No offense, but the others are already annoyed at our constant losing lately, and you blaming it on Summer, barely contributing, and being sarcastic and whiny aren't really solving any issues."

Annie, Clay, and Titan all stare at her in shock and surprise at her sudden appearance and outburst. The Bellossom looked down with a sigh, "You're right."

"What?" Cramad responded in surprise before catching herself. "I mean, yeah. I _am_. Uh… Is that too far?"

"No, no, you're fine," Annie replied. "I'm the one who's been taking things too far. I don't know why, but I have been."

Clay hummed, "Hmm… I think I have an idea. I may be wrong, but… Maybe you're just super bitter about your relationships, so you're being bitchy and moody so it doesn't happen again."

The others stared at him blankly. Cramad opened her mouth, "Uh… Clay. That sounds like something out of a cheesy romance movie or a lame scapegoat in a romance novel."

Clay shrugged, "Hey, it happens in real life. Why do kids decide to bully or beat up people they actually like? Why do guys and girls act all annoyed and bitter when their crushes get with someone that they doesn't deserve them? Unhinged emotion and lack of knowledge of how to really display their feelings."

Annie blinked, "Okay, if I actually try to be nice and supportive again, will you never say any of that again?"

"Deal," Clay shrugged.

Annie hopped off of her rock, "Alright then. That's settled…"

"Wait, so that's it? You're just completely done being bitchy because of Clay's idea of what's making you act this way?" Titan queried. "That honestly just makes it seem like you were doing it on purpose."

Annie gave him a look before walking away, leaving the three of them to glance at each other in confusion.

 **000**

" **Okay, so Clay was a** _ **bit**_ **right about what he said," Annie explained. "Yes, I've been acting bitchy, but I'm just tired of being taken advantage of and seeing others be taken advantage of! Hell, Connor is dating his fucking abuser, and apparently they're happy together. It's like they're in fucking first grade, with Taylor being the flirty bully and Connor being the victim! And as a result, Connor isn't a wimp anymore, and Taylor's suddenly a decent person!?"**

" **Meanwhile, I actually try to treat people with kindness, stay out of the way, and try to show love, but I'm overlooked, completely ignored, treated like shit. It's fucking irritating, okay!? And no, it wasn't all in the show, it's happened more outside of this stupid show. I let it eat at me, and now since I've been mean, they're calling me a second Pia and planning my elimination…"**

 **She let out a sigh, "I admit, if we lost and I get eliminated, I'd deserve it and I'd apologize. I'd still apologize regardless to get back in my team's good graces and try to make this all blow behind us."**

 **000**

Klavier was rocking back and forth on the beach, unsure about what to do about his song. "Come on, Klavier… _Think_. What's a good song that you could possibly do okay with?"

"Well, are there any particular bands that you're fond of?"

Klavier jumped at the sudden voice, only to see Kojo and Phill standing on either side of him. He looked back at forth at the two. "Where'd you guys come from?"

"Well it all started when my dad stuck his-"

"You know that's not what I meant!" Klavier exclaimed, cutting the mouse off. The Raticate could only chuckle in response.

"So, what's going on now?" Kojo asked, taking a seat beside him, with Phill doing the same.

Because it was his idea to begin with, Phill took the liberty of explaining the situation. "Well, I convinced him to sing in the challenge and I think he's having trouble deciding on a song."

Kojo nodded, "Well like Phill asked earlier, are there any particular bands or singers that you're fond of?"

Klavier sighed, looking down, "I'm drawing a blank. That's why it's hard for me right now. I want to impress Holly, but I'm just scared about how I'm gonna do."

"Well, what about a Maroon 5 song?" Phill queried.

Klavier rose a brow, "Don't people hate those guys?"

"Dude, people hate anyone more successful than them. Plus, their hate is just from people who think they have superior taste in music. That's how it goes for any singer," Phill explained.

"Oh…"

"But, I still advise against it, they're still pretty popular and I'm sure that every time we have challenges like this, one of their songs is performed. Maybe do something different," Kojo advised.

The Gliscor turned to him, "Are you singing, too?"

The Mienshao sharply inhaled, "Yes, but after this challenge, I'll be done with having major roles on the team."

"Well, what kind of song are _you_ doing?" Klavier asked. "Maybe it'll give me an idea."

Kojo rubbed the back of his head, "I was actually gonna write something."

Phill cooed, "Aww… So precious. You're gonna sing to Summer."

The Martial Arts Pokemon blushed while glowering at the Raticate. Klavier sighed, "Well, I can't write songs worth anything."

"Just think about songs that you think will convey your feelings to Holly," Kojo explained. "If you want to, that is. As long as you perform well, she may enjoy it anyway, regardless of the content."

"And just remember, don't worry about the popularity of the singer. People hate and talk shit about everything, even good things, so those opinions don't matter," Phill reiterated.

Klavier nodded, with Phill patting his back. Phill's eyes immediately went Kojo. "Now, for your love song for Summer…"

Kojo immediately groaned, "I should've expected this…"

"How do you plan on doing it? Are you doing it acapella?" Phill queried.

"No way. Acapella performances are just weird to me," the mustelid explained. "I'm gonna do it on piano…"

"Ooh~. Nice," Phill said, giving a thumbs up. "I'll admit, I expected you to use a guitar."

Kojo shook his head, "Nah, that'd take a lot of tuning to get the song I want and I'm too lazy to deal with it. Plus, I like piano more, believe it or not."

"Wait, Kojo, you play things?" Klavier queried in confusion.

Kojo nodded, "Yeah, I ended up needing to take actual piano and guitar lessons for a movie role a few years back. I didn't get it, but I still practiced in my spare time out of boredom."

"Huh… That's cool," Klavier said. "Summer's lucky…"

"Hey dude, Holly's lucky, too," Phill said, rubbing his back. "You're a nice guy who only wants to do your best for her. If that's not a sign that you really care, then I don't know what is."

A small smile grew on the Gliscor's face. "Thanks."

 **000**

 **Klavier sighed. "I guess I have to search up songs that would tell Holly how I feel or convey a similar feeling. I guess I have to use the computer after all…"**

 **000**

Summer's eyes were wide as she browsed the internet. Out of curiosity, she typed in Kojo's full name to see what'd pop up. She found a wikipedia article on him, listing all of the movies that he played a part in, as well as his relationship status with Floatzelle. She grumbled to herself at the sight of her name, clicking out of the page.

She scrolled down and saw a pdf link that said "Adam Kingston Model Calendar. Immediately, her eyes widened as she clicked on it. A blush immediately grew on her face as she saw Kojo posing in very sexy, suggestive manners. She bit her lip as she scrolled down, very explicit thoughts entering her mind.

"Summer-"

The Typhlosion quickly snapped out of it, closing the tab. She swallowed as she turned to see Klavier there, standing on his tail, along with Phill and Kojo. Seeing her man, a sultry smile grew on her face. "Hey there, cutie~."

Phill chuckled, "Why thank you. But, I think you should be talking to your boy toy, here…"

Summer scoffed, rolling her eyes playfully as Kojo approached, planting a kiss on her lips. Kojo pulled away, but Summer initiated the kiss once again, pulling him onto her.

Phill whistled, "Awkward. So… The computer."

The Raticate walked toward the table, with Klavier uncomfortably staring at the couple making out. Eventually, he glided to the other side of the table, beside Phill. The Raticate turned the laptop towards the two of them before pulling up Sliggoogle and typing in 'love songs'.

Numerous love songs were seen popping up. Klavier's eyes widened. "Holy crap! That's a lot of love songs."

Phill nodded, "People have been singing about love for decades, dude. There are a plethora for you to choose from."

"But, this'll take all day! Plus, I'll have to learn one, which could take even longer!" Klavier exclaimed.

Phill hummed, "Yeah, you have a point. But, I think I have an idea of what you can sing."

Klavier rose a brow. "What-"

Kojo rose up, panting and slightly trembling from the lack of oxygen. Summer rose up before scooting closer to him, eventually climbing into his lap. He chuckled wrapping his arms around her waist.

Phill, taking notice of this, snorted. "Now all we need is Holly and this picture is complete."

"So, what song were you gonna sing, Summer?" Klavier queried. "You said you were gonna do your favorite."

Summer giggled, "You'll know soon enough. Don't worry."

"Ooh… So you're gonna sing _that_?" Kojo chimed in. "Huh. I actually don't mind."

Summer purred, "I know you won't…"

"Okay, Klavier, maybe you can sing "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars," Phill suggested.

Klavier blushed, "Well, I really like that song, but… I just feel like I'm going to embarrass myself. We haven't been together _that_ long."

"What? You don't think she's amazing the way she is?"

"No, no, I do! I just-"

Phill chuckled, "Calm down dude. I'm just joking."

"Maybe he needs a song that addresses his feelings as a whole," Summer suggested. "How about-"

 **000**

Morgan, Sola, Ace, Shine, and Sally left the area, instead deciding to head to the jail. This left Amethyst, Ashton, Carson, and Holly at the table with the laptop.

"Okay, so songs are we doing?" Carson queried. "My singing voice isn't exactly the best for high notes."

"It's okay Carson, we're just gonna give you a simple song to sing," Amethyst assured.

Carson let out a sigh of relief, "Great…"

Holly rose a brow, "Don't you think that'll get us less points?"

"I doubt it," Amethyst scoffed. "They only mentioned that we may get extra points for an original song. They never specified about the length of the song nor the content that the song may have in it."

Carson blinked, "...You're not gonna give me an awful, but short, sex focused song are you?"

Amethyst giggled, "Of course not… It's a pretty funny song to me."

Carson let out yet another sigh. Hearing the tapping of the laptop, the three of them turned to see Ashton typing on the laptop while humming.

Amethyst rose a brow at this, walking around and sitting next to her. "Are you trying to find a song?"

"Oh, I already have one in mind, I'm just trying to find the lyrics so that I can practice a little more," Ashton explained.

Amethyst nodded. "Good. You're gonna need it. With Connor and Taylor working against us, we need to make sure that we prove ourselves."

"But if we lose, that makes us safe, but you and Holly would be targets, if they're going after us," Carson explained.

The Amaura inhaled sharply. She hadn't thought this all the way through. If they lost, there was a high chance that she'd get eliminated. "Then we'd better make sure that you guys put on the best performance you can."

There was a bit of silence.

"So Ash, what song are you doing?" Holly queried, turning to the Meganium.

 **000**

"Singing competition, huh?" Jet queried, one of his arms around Sally. "Well, let's hope that you girls do well…"

"You guys have already decided on your songs, right?" Demenio queried.

Sola, who was lying next to him, explained, "Well, it's only five people from each team competing. So, only Sally and Shine will do it, and Ashton, Kojo, and Carson will be going, too."

"Huh. Weird choices," Hex chimed in.

Shade huffed, "Not really. Given what Amethyst is planning, it's pretty much perfect."

"Uh… Shade, I don't think you're allowed to talk about that stuff around us. Isn't that cheating?" Ace queried.

"There wasn't any rule against it," Shine shrugged. "So, what _is_ she planning?"

Shade took a breath, "She's essentially trying to recruit Connor and Taylor so that she'll have enough votes to get rid of each of you."

"Uh… What the hell is going on with the shy or quiet people suddenly being super competitive and assholish?" Sally queried.

Chase shrugged, "Meh, just sounds like they're just now growing some balls. This season is supposed to be for the 'less desirables' right? They're just trying to prove something."

"Actually no, Victini brought back some people just because he wanted to," Sola commented. "Apparently Luna, Shine, Vixen, and I were brought back because he thinks we're just housewives with nothing else going for us. Morgan's here because she didn't participate in All-Stars due to her pregnancy. Hell, he even brought back Cano and Skore, even though they were finalists, just because they weren't in All-Stars."

"Yeah, and Taylor and Brian were in the final seven, but they're here anyway," Ace added, turning to Chase.

"Basically, Victini was being Victini when doing this season. Nonsensical bullshit," Shade finalized. "As for why the former nice guys are being different, Chase is right. I mean, what's the point of being brought back if you're still gonna stay in the background. Like Marion said, floating is pretty much out of the question this time around."

"But, I feel like Holly, Carson and Ashton are still trying to follow that route," Jet chimed in. "Amethyst is apparently planning you guys' eliminations, so that's something. The others… They barely speak up or really provide anything of use. Well, Ashton does with her vines, but Carson is just here, and the only thing Holly does is meet with them and hang out with Klavier. I'd advise you guys to eliminate one of them soon."

"Oh, that's already in the cards," Morgan confirmed. "I'd say that we get rid of Amethyst first since she's acting as the leader. Then see if the others offer anything with her gone."

"I like how this conversation shifted from today's challenge to an overall strategy," Hex chuckled.

"Hey, we want our girls to get far, don't we?" Demenio said, kissing Sola's cheek.

Sola purred, nuzzling him.

Chase smacked his lips, "So, about this challenge. What songs are you planning on doing?"

Shine shrugged, "Something simple. I listen to a decent amount of music around the house, so I should be okay with whatever I choose. I just hope that they haven't heard the songs before and consider them a nuisance."

Shade groaned to himself, " _You got that right…_ "

Shine gave him a look, making the Umbreon look away sheepishly.

"What about you, Sally?" Hex queried.

Sally looked down thoughtfully, "Hmm… Still not entirely sure. But, it'll come to me soon enough."

"We have a little over an hour left, so let's hope soon is within forty minutes or less," Morgan remarked with a giggle.

Sola cleared her throat, shuffling closer to Demenio, "So, boys… What else can you tell us that we don't know about?"

The guys exchanged looks.

 **000**

Fez was sitting on top of the Loser Cabin with his tablet and pen, attempting to think of lyrics. He didn't want to do a generic love song, but he had no idea what else he could sing about. He began thinking about other non-love songs with different topics.

"So… I'm not singing about doing drugs and partying, I'm not doing a cliché love song… Ugh, what the hell am I doing?"

"You okay up there?" he heard from below. Looking down, he saw Aspen and Aura looking up at him. He sighed to himself, "Yeah, just having some writer's block. I think I'm finally understanding why there are numerous writers credited on a single song. This is hard."

"Oh, well we can help you out, if you want," Aura offered with a smile.

Fez rose a brow before flying down with his pen and tablet, "Really? I thought you guys weren't great singers."

"Actually, I could sing _decently_ , but I'm okay with not participating," Aura explained.

"And just because I can't sing that well doesn't mean I can't provide input," Aspen added.

Fez sighed, "Okay, fine." He looked over at the Winner's Cabin, seeing Amethyst eyeing him with a frown. He, Aura, and Aspen entered the Loser Cabin's female side. The girls sat on their own beds, while Fez sat on Sabrina's old bed.

"Okay, so what kind of song do you girls suggest that I write?" Fez queried.

"Well, I honestly don't think that it should be hard. There are songs that literally say the same word hundreds of times that are popular," Aura explained. "Maybe you should just sing one of those songs and just be done with it?"

"I'm trying to show that I can-" Fez paused, remembering what the guys told him earlier. "Um… Actually, I may take you up on that. So, what songs do that?"

 **000**

Marion was sitting on the edge of the cliff, writing in the tablet. She frustratedly tore out a piece of paper, crumpling it up before throwing it out to sea. The camera panned down to show numerous other paper balls floating in the water.

The Banette let out a sigh. Suddenly, a voice accompanied her, "Having fun littering?"

The Marionette Pokemon jumped at the sudden voice before turning and seeing Lassie floating up beside her. She calmed down, looking back down at the tablet, "Hey Lassie…"

"Having a tough time coming up with lyrics?" the Snow Land Pokemon queried.

Marion huffed, "That's an understatement."

"Why're you writing a song anyway?" Lassie queried. "Why not just choose a song and sing it?"

Marion let out a sigh, "I dunno. I guess I thought I'd be able to do this. And I should be able to since I wrote songs a few years back out of boredom."

Lassie sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, "Well, my advice would be to just reflect on your life and just sing about that. What better way to express yourself, right?"

Marion thought about it for a moment before a small smile formed on her face. "Thanks."

Lassie nodded before floating next to her and sitting down.

 **000**

" **Hey, even if we screw up, we've got immunity," Lassie shrugged. "That's why I'm just gonna sing something I know a good amount of lyrics to."**

 **000**

Telling Summer that he needed to work on his song, Kojo left the gazebo in search of a place that he could think and focus. He decided to go straight into the Winner's Cabin and into an empty room. With him, he had an electronic keyboard, as well as a pen and tablet. He sat down on his usual bed with a sigh before starting to think.

He dug in the back of his mind, trying to think of a decent instrumental. He started using his piano to create a decent melody. He hummed to himself as he watched his paws maneuver across the keys.

He paused, as he believed that he was unintentionally doing the beat to a pre-existing song. He sighed before rubbing his nose and trying again. He hummed to himself again, attempting to think of lyrics that would express how he felt toward Summer, while not being completely cliché.

He had a feeling that it was going to be cliché anyway, so he decided to continue on merrily. As he picked up a tablet, he started hearing uncomfortably loud moans coming from the room beside him.

" _Yes… MORE!"_

Kojo twitched, knowing exactly who was emitting the moans and not wanting to picture what was happening. He knew that he wasn't going to be focusing on anything with he was in there, so, with a groan, he got out of bed.

He picked up the keyboard, tablet, and pen, walking out of the room. He noticed that the room where the sounds of passion were coming from had the door closed. He sighed in relief as he left the hallway and eventually the cabin.

 **-000-**

He walked toward the gazebo, where he saw that Summer was no longer there. He rose a brow. Seeing this as an opportunity to work with Klavier and Phill again, he walked back to the gazebo with his instrument and tablet.

"Kojo!"

Pausing, the Mienshao turned to the source of the voice. He looked and saw Holly flying toward him. She landed on his shoulder. "Where ya headed?"

"Just back to the gazebo," he shrugged. "Taylor and Connor are screwing pretty loud in there, so I didn't think I was gonna be able to concentrate."

"Oh… Well… Uh, that's kinda disturbing," Holly commented, sweatdropped.

"Yeah…" Kojo replied. "How's it going with Ashton and Carson?"

Holly looked back over and saw Carson and Ashton both looking at the screen of the laptop, "Well, they're doing decent. They're just looking at the song lyrics they're gonna sing."

"Oh? They're allowing duets?"

"No, Ashton has the split screen so she sees her lyrics and Carson sees his," Holly explained. Kojo nodded in understanding,

"Well, I'm gonna get to work figuring out my lyrics," Kojo said, gesturing to the gazebo.

Holly nodded in understanding before flying back to the others. The Martial Arts Pokemon went back to the gazebo and sat down at the table, with Phill and Klavier looking at him in confusion.

"What happened to concentration?" Phill queried.

"Connor and Taylor are apparently having sex, so I can't focus in the cabin," Kojo explained. He looked around, "Where'd Summer go?"

"Well, when you left she said that she was going to go find Marie and Anthony and hang with them until the two hours are up," Phill explained.

"How much time do we have left?"

"FORTY-FIVE MINUTES REMAINING!"

"Okay, that is always too coincidental…" Klavier commented.

"Bro, there are cameras around. I'm pretty sure that they're still watching and listening," Kojo chuckled as he turned on the keyboard and immediately started playing on it for a few seconds. He let out a sigh, "I'm trying to make a good instrumental, but there are so many songs in the world. I don't want to possibly lose points because it sounds like something else."

"Dude, like you said, there's millions of songs in the world across all nationalities and languages, some are bound to sound similar unintentionally," Phill explained. "Plus, older people always complain about how all music sounds the same these days anyway, even though older songs that they praise pretty much sound the same, too."

"Do you have any lyrics?"

Kojo shook his head, "Usually singers create the beat and instrumental of a song before actually putting lyrics to them. So, I've got nothing. How's the search for a song going for you, Klav?"

Phill cleared his throat. "Well, I think we've narrowed it down to two possible songs, so that's good progress. But, we need to focus on you and your song."

"Dude, if anyone else from your team sees you helping me, aren't you worried they'll decide to take you out?"

Phill stifled a laugh. "Adam, _Summer_ was here with us not too long ago and she didn't mind at all. And she pretty much has as much power as Anthony and Marie when it comes to voting. I don't think Klav or myself will be going anywhere anytime soon. Plus, this song is for the girl you're positive that you're gonna ask to marry you when you're both out of this game. Of course I'm gonna help you."

Kojo smiled. "Thanks, dude."

Nearby, a pair of eyes retreated back to the forest.

 **000**

Anthony, Marie, and Summer were inside of the gym, with the two water-types lying in the ring, the crocodile straddling the Blastoise while holding down his arms.

"And… What exactly is this doing?" Summer giggled. "Determining who's gonna be dominant in bed?"

Hearing that, Anthony huffed as he stopped pushing up against the Feraligatr. "If that's the case, I'll happily let her be on top."

Marie scoffed as she playfully smacked his chest. The sound of the door opening got their attention as Annie entered. Seeing her, immediately everyone's expressions turned sour. Expecting this, Annie sighed.

"Okay, before you say anything, I just want to apologize for how I've been acting," Annie stated. "It was out of line, annoying, and very disrespectful. And, I'm hoping that you guys will give me another chance."

Marie got off of Anthony, walking toward the ropes of the ring. "Here's the thing Annie. That's all well and good. Thanks for the apology. But, the fact of the matter is that you still offer literally nothing great for the team."

Annie nodded. "Okay, I understand. But, I just want you to know that if we end up losing, all eyes shouldn't automatically go on me."

Anthony rose a brow, "And why is that?"

"Because, currently Phill is helping Summer's boyfriend create his song for the challenge," Annie explained.

"He's _what_?" Marie asked, folding her arms while eyeing Summer. The Typhlosion held a glare on her face.

"Yes, and Kojo mentioned the risk of him being eliminated, but he laughed and said that as long as Summer has a say, he and Klavier are guaranteed to make it far," Annie explained.

Summer clenched her fists as Annie turned to her. "Now, I find that very unfair. Why does Summer get to have a say when there's obvious bias. And I am being completely serious right now. Klavier and Phill are just as useless as myself, Aura, or Aspen, so why do they get special treatment just because they keep your boyfriend stable?"

"AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" Summer growled, her neck erupting in flames.

"Look," Annie started. "We saw someone from Kojo's family, and he's nuts, the guy is being cucked by his technically _still_ -girlfriend, meaning you're a just sidechick at the moment, he only ever hangs out with you, Klavier, and Phill based on observations, and he usually only ever smiles or laughs when he's around one of you three. He's likely emotionally damaged."

She continued, "I'm just saying that you're trying to keep him stable and safe for literally no reason. This is still a competition. It has been shown numerous times that trying to keep your boyfriend or girlfriend in the game until the end always fails."

"You listen to me…" Summer growled, proceeding to walk toward her once again, leading to Marie climbing over the ropes and keep her back. "You have literally done _nothing_ worthwhile here but complain. _You_ are always with the same exact people every fucking time, Titan and Cramad, and both of them are more useful than you in some way, shape, or form! Just because Phill considers me a great friend that'll keep them safe for a while doesn't mean that I'm conspiring against the team, like you're implying. And even then, they're at least more _enjoyable_ on the team! Sabrina got eliminated because of her attitude and she was still useful, so that bullshit 'useless' excuse means NOTHING at this point. You're not getting your ass kicked off this island because you're useless, you're gonna be eliminated because you're a BITCH!"

Annie sighed. "Well, when I mention to the others how you're picking and choosing who gets to stay based on bias and not on performance, we'll see who gets their ass kicked off of the island."

As she left, Summer attempted to get at her, even blasting a Flamethrower at the Flower Pokemon as she exited the gym. The flames emitted smoke, triggering the sprinkler system, which doused the three of them in water.

 **000**

 **Annie let out a sigh. "I literally went there to apologize for my behavior and let them know that Phill was practically helping the** _ **other**_ **team win, and I'm the bad girl for pointing out the bias that Summer has!? Screw it. If they still choose to eliminate me, I'll let them all know that they need to watch themselves once I'm eliminated."**

 **000**

Cramad and Titan were heading to the jail out of curiosity. They hadn't been inside of it since its return, as they felt that it was pointless. But, Titan's wonder of how _it_ looked compared to the one they were placed in for an earlier challenge drew them to the old, rusty facility.

"I really don't like this…" Cramad stated. "This place is pretty pointless unless you're trying to have sex with or talk to your spouse that's not here."

"Hey, ya gotta admit your curiosity is a _bit_ piqued," Titan urged.

Cramad deadpanned, "No."

Titan sighed, "Just come on."

The two of them walked into the jail, with Titan admiring the scenery. "Interesting…"

"I fail to see what's interesting about a bunch of stupid, old cells…" Cramad replied. "They're just used for criminals."

Titan moved toward the elevator, making Cramad groan to herself. She was seriously rethinking not speaking up for the challenge. At least they'd be doing something productive instead of roaming around a dumb jail. She followed him toward the elevator. The Galvantula pressed the up button as the elevator made its way down.

"This is a stupid idea, hon…" Cramad deadpanned as the elevator stopped and opened up for them. Titan said nothing and got inside, leaving Cramad on the outside. Her brows furrowed in disapproval, but as the doors closed, she gave in, extending a claw and making the doors open up once more.

Titan smiled at her, "I knew you couldn't resist."

Cramad gazed at him, "Titan, aren't you concerned _at all_ that we may end up losing Annie if we lose this challenge?"

Titan hummed, "Not really. We agreed that her behavior was annoying, right. And yes, she's our friend, but this is still a competition at the end of the day. And if she gets eliminated, then that's that."

"Oh?" Cramad started, giving him a look. "So us being in a competition means that we shouldn't worry or try to keep our friends in the game? Then tell me, what was all of that about you trying to keep me safe?"

"You're my bloody wife! That's different!" Titan countered. "And I'm not saying that we shouldn't worry. It's the fact that the odds are stacked against her, so there's nothing that will change the outcome if we _do_ wind up losing."

Cramad opened her mouth to respond, but realized that he actually had a point, much to her chagrin. Upon making it to the manager's office, their eyes immediately widened upon seeing the ten other people up there. The others looked back at them in surprise.

"What the hell's goin' on up here?" Titan queried. "You all weren't about to have an orgy were ya?"

"What the- NO!" Shade exclaimed.

"What are you guys all doing here, then?" Cramad queried. "Usually this place is just used for hanky-panky when your spouses aren't here. And you all are… Wait, how is all of this stuff still functioning and brand new? I thought this place was supposed to be old."

Morgan sighed, "We revamped the place a bit."

"Does anyone else know about this? Because this looks like amazing work," Titan explained, looking around. He noticed the other door and rose a brow. "What's back there?"

"That's-" Ace quickly covered up the Flareon's mouth before he could explain.

"Guys, no offense, but why are you here?" Sola queried.

Cramad turned to Titan, "He insisted that we should check this place out to see how different it is from the jail Victini made us compete in."

"We never really went in the empty jails before, I was just curious," Titan explained with a shrug.

"Well, there's nothing much else for you here. And we'd appreciate it if you kept this a secret," Sally commented.

The bug-type couple exchanged looks before looking back at them. "Uh… You guys know that there's a bunch of cameras around, right?"

"A secret from the others," Sally clarified.

They exchanged looks, a small smile growing on Titan's face. "Hmm, maybe. On one condition… We get to come here wherever we want…"

"WHY would you _ever_ want to come back here?!" Cramad exclaimed.

"They've got television, fridges, an entire living room… This place could be great for when we lose!"

"We're fine with the Loser Cabin. I'm not walking all the way back to a jail when I can just sleep in a bed. They may be crappy, but it's better than being in a jail…" the Parasect countered.

Titan groaned.

"So can you guys _not_ be snitches and ruin this?" Chase queried.

"Hey, if you guys want to stay in here, that's none of our business," Cramad shrugged. "And ignore Titan's request…"

"Hey!"

"We'll be on our way," Cramad stated as she nudged Titan. The two got back in the elevator and started heading down, leaving the ten in the office to exchange looks of annoyance.

 **000**

 **Titan groaned, "Well, I'm letting her be more independent and she's already becoming a deadpan nag. Great…"**

 **000**

"Arceus, that was… That was amazing," Taylor panted as he lied on his and Connor's combined bed. The Bash Buffalo Pokemon sighed, staring at the headboard.

Seeing this, Taylor rose a brow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, nothing, just… I'm thinking," Connor explained.

"About what?" the Milotic queried, lying across his back and moving his head to the side of his face. He didn't like or want him to feel upset about anything.

Connor eyed him from the corner of his eye, "Just, life outside of the game. I've pretty much given in and we've had sex, so now this is gonna end up going viral like everything else. We may end up getting harassed because people may not like you or they may think I'm a poser or a pansy."

Milotic gave him a thoughtful look.

"I just feel like life's gonna be difficult for us," Connor explained.

Milotic moved his tail to the side of Connor's face, making the Bouffalant face him. The two locked lips, with Taylor opening his eyes to look at him. "Baby, you don't need to be worrying about that. People are always going to be jackasses, no matter what. We can't let them control us or get to us. I love you, and you love me, right?"

Connor nodded.

"Then who gives a flying fuck about what random nobodies have to say?" the Milotic stated. "Plus, if people still hate me or start hating you, that's a personal problem on their part. We've helped each other change for the better and if they can't accept it, fuck them. And speaking of fucking…"

Connor immediately blushed.

"Are you sure that you're a virgin? You sure knew what you were doing with that _monster_ …" Taylor teased, kissing his cheek.

"Hey, I still knew how it all worked down there," Connor responded, still blushing.

Taylor chortled, nuzzling him, "Oh I could tell~."

"CONTESTANTS! PLEASE RETURN TO THE STADIUM! IT IS TIME FOR THE COMPETITION TO BEGIN!"

Taylor sighed before giving Connor a begging face, "Round two tonight? _Please_?"

"Uh… We don't know if we're even gonna win or not," Connor chuckled.

"That doesn't matter," Taylor responded softly, slowly coiling around him as he planted another kiss on his cheek. "We have the forest…"

Connor rolled his eyes. "Come on, babe. Let's just get to stadium…"

Taylor giggled, "Fine."

 **000**

" **Fuck what everyone says. Connor is an amazing guy and I love being with him, so to everyone who's silently judging me… To put it blunt, you can watch** _ **me**_ **choke on Connor's-"**

 **000**

All of the contestants returned to the stadium, where the hosts were waiting.

"Alright, will all of the participants head behind the stage," Xerneas instructed.

Klavier, Fez, Lassie, Marion, Summer, Carson, Kojo, Ashton, Sally, and Shine walked away from the group. "Now, the rest of you, take a seat and we'll get on with the judging," Xerneas continued.

The remaining competitors walked to the benches, as Virizion and Mew headed behind the stage to talk to the others.

 **-000-**

"Alright, before we begin, are any of you planning on doing an acapella performance?" Mew queried.

"Are there extra points for it?" Shine responded, raising a brow.

"Uh… No," Virizion replied.

Nobody spoke up after that, leading the host and hostess to assume that no one was going to do so. However, Marion rose her hand. "I guess I'm doing an acapella pretty much…"

"Okay, so just Marion?"

The others remained silent, confirming their final assumption.

"Alright, when your name is called to come perform, just tell us the song, Mew will pull up the instrumental, and you'll be able to start," Virizion explained. "If you're doing an original song and require instruments, then you are free to use what is in the box."

Looking behind them, they saw another box full of instruments. Kojo nodded with a smile.

"Good luck," Mew said as he and Virizion started heading back.

The ten participants exchanged looks.

 **-000-**

Xerneas cleared her throat, "Alright, let's get this singing challenge on the road. And, Lugias, since you all won the last challenge, you will be going first. And first singer up on the stage is… Carson!"

The Bronze Bell Pokemon gasped from behind the stage. He swallowed in nervousness as he felt something touch his back. He looked back and saw Ashton giving him a warm smile. "You'll do great, hon."

"I surely hope so," the steel- and psychic-type replied.

"Carson! You're up!" Xerneas repeated.

Carson took a deep breath before floating around and onto the stage. He looked outwards, seeing everyone's eyes on him. He shuddered to himself.

"Alright Carson, what song will you be performing for us?" Virizion queried.

He took a deep breath. He was already on national television and had competed in a season of this show already. His nerves did _not_ need to resurface. Sure, he was safe from elimination even if he messed up, but he didn't want to let people down. He hadn't been doing anything useful for the team, so this was another chance for him.

"Carson… You okay?"

Carson was brought back to reality, his negative thoughts still in the back of his mind. "Y-Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You can do this Carson! Come on!" Amethyst cheered.

Carson sighed, "My song is 'Midnight' by Coldplay."

Mew, who had a laptop in front of him, started typing the song name in order to get the lyrics, as well as well find the instrumental. Eventually, he was able to find it. A speaker appeared on their judging table, facing the stage.

"Okay Carson, just let Mew know when you're ready," Xerneas stated.

The Bronze Bell Pokemon took a breath, closing his eyes in order to form a decent memory of the words. Once he composed himself, he let out a sigh, "Okay. I'm good."

"Alright then. Mew, hit it," Xerneas said, turning to him.

Mew pressed the spacebar. An ethereal beat was heard from the speaker, causing Carson's eyes to widen.

 **000**

" **Okay, so I might not have listened to the actual song beforehand…" Carson confessed sheepishly.**

 **000**

Carson cleared his throat as he proceeded to sing the song to the best of his capabilities. Just then, a thought hit him. "Wait, do we have to sing the _entire_ song?"

Mew turned off the music as the girls began to explain. "Uh… No, not necessarily. I'd say at least a minute and a half is the minimum requirement. So, if you fumble, you can pick yourself up in the middle," Virizion said, looking to Xerneas, who shrugged.

Carson sighed in relief.

" _But_ , if you choose to sing the entire song, we won't really stop you," Xerneas clarified.

Carson nodded to himself. "Alright, you can start the music again…"

Mew obliged, rewinding and turning on the music once again. The ethereal beat filled the air. Carson began to sing, but due to his lack of knowledge of how the song went, he ended up singing the song off-key and in a rather high-pitched voice.

" _In the darkness… Before the dawn  
In the swirling of the storm…_

 _And I'm rolling with the thunder… And…_

 _Leave the liiight, the liiight on…."_

The three hosts exchanged looks of unsurety as the Bronzong continued.

" _Millions of miles hoooome…_

 _In the swirling… I'm swimming on_

 _And I'm rolling with the punches…_

 _But bleed from thorns…_

 _Leave a light… A light on…_

 _Leave a light… A light on…"_

Carson continued as the beat progressed. Amethyst groaned to herself. They spent all of that time practicing, and not once did she think to make him actually listen to the song. They just focused on getting him to memorize the lyrics… And he was _still_ messing up!

The others on the team just remained silent, as they didn't know the song anyhow and so didn't know how it really went.

" _In the daaarkness, before the dawn..._

 _In the daaarkness, before the dawn…_

 _Leave a liiight, a liiight on…_

 _Leave a liiight, a liiight on…_

There wasn't any applause when he finished. At this point in the entire competition, they simply wanted the results so that they could move on.

"Well Carson, uh… You weren't _that_ bad, but I wouldn't necessarily say that you did _great_ ," Virizion remarked. "So, I'll give you a four out of ten."

"Yeah, uh… The song, I like the band that wrote and performed it, and it didn't sound anything like that," Xerneas explained. "You also went a bit too fast and held some of the notes longer than required. But… I'll give you a four out of ten as well."

"Based on the lyrics, you also got a few things mixed up," Mew added. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to give you a three out of ten."

"Okay, so that brings your total to eleven out of thirty," Xerneas finalized. "Not the best, but it's a decent enough start."

Carson looked down in disappointment. Listening to the song should have been a main focus of his.

"You can come off the stage and join your team," Virizion said. Carson floated down dispirited, not even making eye contact with anyone.

"And next up we have… Marion, who will be performing an original song acapella," Xerneas stated.

 **-000-**

Marion took a breath as she walked onto the stage. She was able to finish her song with the aid of Lassie, who gave her a thumbs up as she went on stage. Marion looked out at her small audience and rubbed her arm sheepishly.

Virizion cleared her throat, "Alright Marion, do you have a title for your song?"

"Yeah," the ghost-type replied. "Skater Girl."

The judges exchanged looks. They had a feeling about what the song was going to be about almost immediately.

"Okay… I won't make any snide comments regarding that title since there are a ton of songs that have the exact same name," Xerneas remarked. "Just let us know when you're ready."

Marion took a breath, before looking at them with a firm nod. They nodded back. The Marionette Pokemon cleared her throat before beginning to sing in a rather sing-song fashion.

" _Skater girl, skater girl…_

 _Oh, why do you frown…_

 _Skater girl, skater girl…_

 _You're not letting them down…_

 _Skater girl, skater girl…_

 _Solace comes in all forms…_

 _Skater girl, skater girl…_

 _Break away from the norm…_

The melodic song filled everyone's ears. And while some expressed their disapproval, others found it rather soothing.

" _Don't run away, you cannot hide_

 _The sadness that you feel inside_

 _Something that you must decide_

 _Is if it's really worth it…"_

A rather disturbed expression grew on a few contestants, as well as the hosts.

" _Your life is standard, that's okay_

 _I'm not convincing you to stay_

 _It's your decision, roll away_

 _Leave the board on the hearth…"_

" _Then one day, you feel things look up_

 _Shot of espresso, coffee cup_

 _Your parents tell you, 'That's enough'_

 _Your body's filled with mirth…"_

"Wait… Is this about coffee helping her depression?" Phill whispered questioningly to Marie.

"I have no idea," the Feraligatr queried.

" _You finally feel like you're alive_

 _Decide that you want to survive_

 _There is a chance that you will thrive_

 _Taking all the girth…"_

"And now there are sex references…" Ace mumbled.

"I have no idea what this song is about," Taylor stated. "But, I like the girth part…"

Everyone stared at him and Connor, with the latter blushing from embarrassment.

" _Pumped up kicks, and ollies, too_

 _Tony Hawk is an awesome dude_

 _Skateboarding has helped be to_

 _Figure out my self-worth…"_

" _So if you ever feel like you're alone_

 _And have no one to call your own_

 _Find your passion and skills to hone_

 _And you'll be perfect in the zone…"_

" _Skater girl, skater girl_

 _Not much sense is in the world_

 _Skater girl, skater girl_

 _Loop-de-loops can make you hurl_

 _Skater girl, skater girl_

 _Your life is what you make it…_

 _Skater girl, skater girl_

 _Find you chance and take it…"_

As she finished the song, everyone looked at her, and each other, in confusion. Amidst the silence, Marion sheepishly rubbed her arm again.

Virizion sighed, "Well… Uh… I'll admit, I was completely lost. I couldn't _clearly_ identify the theme. First it was grim, then it takes a turn to talk about coffee briefly, then it delves back into finding yourself, and the rhyme scheme is broken in one of your verses. But… I guess I'll give you six out of ten."

"Yeah, I agree with Viri," Xerneas replied. "Your voice was good enough, but the subject matter just fell flat for me. I'll give you a five out of ten."

Mew sighed. "It's not bad, and I enjoyed the melody, I'll give you a five out of ten as well…"

"And because it is an original work, we'll give you three bonus points. That gives you a score of nineteen out of thirty," Xerneas finalized. "That gives the Ho-Ohs a lead so far."

Marion sighed in relief as she floated off of the stage. She was just glad that she got a higher score than Carson.

"Alright, next singer for the Lugias… We have Ashton!" Xerneas announced.

 **-000-**

The Meganium walked out onto the stage. Now knowing that the Ho-Ohs were leading by eight points, the Herb Pokemon took a deep breath. She was going to have to _really_ give a good performance if she wanted her team to take the lead again.

"Alright Ashton, what's your song?" Virizion queried.

"'Love Me Like You Do' by Ellie Goulding," Ashton revealed. She had heard the song on the radio for a while and it always stuck with her. She enjoyed the subject and the voice behind it.

"Ooh… Interesting choice," Xerneas remarked with a smile. "Well, let us know when you want to begin…."

Ashton immediately swallowed in nervousness. The fairy-type's smile made her a bit nervous, as she didn't know if this was a favorite song of hers or not. She couldn't let that influence her, though. She needed to get this done.

She nodded, "I'm ready. And you said that one and a half minutes is okay, too, right?"

"Yes," Mew answered.

Ashton nodded, "Okay, you can start."

Mew hit the spacebar, having the lyrics pulled up as well. The poppy, progressing beat began coming from the speaker as Ashton began her song.

" _You're the light, you're the night_

 _You're the color of my blood_

 _You're the cure, you're the pain_

 _You're the only thing I wanna touch_

 _Never knew that it could mean so much, so much…"_

Her voice and the lyrics actually rode the beat well, nearly matching the exact tone of the original song. The crowd was pleasantly surprised, with Morgan being the most shocked. She had a feeling that Carson would do poorly, and so her expectations of Ashton were very low. She looked to Amethyst, who had a 'I told you so' look on her face. The Persian glowered at her before looking back on the stage.

" _...satellites_

 _You can see the world you brought to life, to life…"_

" _So love me like you do, la-la-love me like you do_

 _Love me like you do, la-la-love me like you do_

 _Touch me like you do, ta-ta-touch me like you do_

 _What are you waiting for?"_

As she continued, Mew found himself bobbing his head to the song. Looking to his left, he saw that Xerneas was lip-syncing the lyrics to the song, making him have to stifle a laugh.

" _...Holy Grail I've got to find_

 _Only you can set my heart on fire, on fire_

 _Yeah!"_

" _I'll let you set the pa-a-ace_

 _Cause I'm not thinking stra-a-aight_

 _My head's spinning around, I can't see clear no more_

 _What are you waiting for?"_

Just then, Ashton cleared her throat and stopped singing, knowing that she wouldn't be able to match the echo-like vocals that followed. She also didn't want to just sing the same thing repeatedly for the end.

When she stopped, Xerneas looked down, a bit saddened, "Aw… You couldn't finish?"

"Sorry, " Ashton apologized. "I didn't think that I'd be able to sing everything that followed without feeling like I was doing a lackluster job."

"Lackluster job? Honey, that was spectacular!" Virizion remarked with a giggle. "Sure, it was a bit rough at times, and you did falter a bit, but you still did very well. Eight out of ten."

"Eight out of ten?" Xerneas followed. "That was a _nine_ out of ten for me! Not only is that song one of my favorites, but you didn't even butcher it. But, like Virizion said, you _were_ a bit choppy at some points, but it was still good regardless!"

"Yeah, I don't really have any complaints," Mew commented. "The lyrics were correct for the most part and your voice wasn't grating or too high for it. "Seven and a half out of ten."

"Alright Ashton, your total comes out to twenty-four and a half out of thirty. So, Lugias currently hold a score of thirty-five and a half out of sixty," Xerneas announced.

Ashton smiled brightly as she climbed off of the stage and headed to her team's bleachers. They all held smiles, with Amethyst nuzzling her in congratulations. The Meganium blushed.

 **000**

" **Didn't expect that score at all to be honest. I don't sing too often," Ashton explained with a blush still on her face. "Well, hopefully I helped get us a good enough lead."**

 **000**

"Wow, she did better than expected…" Lassie commented from behind the stage, her arms folded. "Hopefully we're able to push past it…"

"I hope…" Klavier said, shaking nervously.

"Hmm, your body language doesn't really scream 'confidence'," Shine commented, seeing that the Gliscor was trembling a bit with a few beads of sweat sliding down his face. "Take a deep breath and try to calm down, hon. It's not that big of a deal."

"Yeah, it's just another singing challenge. We've done dozens of these, and some of us had to do it for an entire season," Summer chimed in.

"Yeah, but this is different! I wanna impress Holly, but I'm afraid that I'm gonna mess up and embarrass myself," the Gliscor explained.

Sally nodded in understanding, "Okay, in that case, when it's your turn, just focus on her and only her. If you concentrate on her, and let the lyrics flow and ride the beat like it's supposed to."

Klavier swallowed as he looking down in unsurety.

"And next up for the Ho-Ohs, we have… Fez!"

Fez, who was standing in silence with a smile, started walking toward the front of the stage. "Well, this should be an easy round for me…"

 **-000-**

The Unfezant flew onto the stage with a smile. This smile caught the attention of Mew, who rose a brow. "Someone's certainly happy."

"Yep, because of my song," Fez explained, looking at Aura and Aspen in the crowd.

"Hmm, then this should be a decent performance," Xerneas remarked. "What's your song?"

Fez cleared his throat, "'Call on Me' by Eric Prydz."

Immediately, the three hosts' eyes narrowed at the bird. Seeing their sudden unimpressed looks, Fez grew a bit confused. "What?"

"Get off the stage," Virizion drawled.

"What? Why?!"

"That song is what often plays in Cobalion's room when they're being _intimate_ ," Mew explained, ignoring the glares the girls were giving him while trying to conceal their blushes. "So, I think it's safe to assume that they know that this is a cop out, since the lyrics are just the same thing over and over again…"

"Exactly. But, since we didn't tell you all that songs like that weren't allowed, we'll give you a chance to change your song. If you don't, you'll be getting no points for your performance, but you'd still be safe from elimination regardless," Xerneas explained.

" _This_ time," Virizion emphasized, still holding an unimpressed expression.

Fez flew off of the stage and sat next to his team, as he felt that it was unfair. He didn't have another song that he could sing off the top of his head either, so he was pretty much hosed either way.

"Alright then, no points for the Ho-Ohs this round…" Mew stated, seeing him do that.

Everyone in the bleachers immediately glowered at the Proud Pokemon, who ignored their furious eyes. Aura and Aspen only exchanged looks. They didn't expect that response, but they still felt that he could have at least tried another song instead of just quitting outright.

"So does _this_ just get swept under the rug?" Annie queried. Immediately everyone turned to their looks of annoyance to her.

"Well, let's just move on. The Lugias still lead with thirty-five and a half out of sixty to the Ho-Ohs' nineteen out of sixty," Virizion recapped.

"Next up for the Lugias… Shine!" Xerneas announced.

 **-000-**

The Espeon strolled out from behind the stage, heading onto the stage. The pink feline sat in wait.

"Your song, Shine?"

"'Midnight Decisions' by Sia," the Sun Pokemon replied.

Virizion rose a brow with a small smile of her own as mew began typing the information into his laptop, "Okay... Let us know when you want to begin."

Shine took a few seconds to compose herself and get the lyrics back into her head. "Alright, I'm ready."

Mew hit the spacebar, anda piano was heard, followed by a faint beat drop. Eventually, the Espeon began to sing.

" _Remember when we had it all?_

 _Remember when you took my calls?_

 _You were my whole world_

 _You were my whole world_

 _Not a thing was said to me_

 _Question now if my heart bleeds_

 _You were my whole world_

 _You were my whole world…"_

" _I can't stop watch my phone_

 _I can't turn it off_

 _What's wrong with me? I can't baby_

 _But if you change your mind I'll miss it_

 _Now I'm crying alone_

 _Hotel, never much fun_

 _Not when there's nobody to catch your tears out here…"_

Shine was doing decently, as she was only making a few minor errors, and her tone was a mix of monotony and high spirit. However, that changed a bit as she continued onto the chorus.

" _I know_

 _Last night we made some midnight decisions_

 _Did I mess up? Oh God, I hope I didn't…_

 _It's all a blur when we talk through the liquor_

 _I always regret midnight decisions_

 _I always regret midnight decisions_

 _I always regret midnight decisions_

 _I always regret midnight decisions_

 _I always regret midnight decisions…"_

She decided to stop there, as she didn't think more was required since there wasn't much of a different when it came to the delivery of the verses in her opinion.

Once she finished, the judges exchanged looks. As usual, Virizion spoke up first.

"Well, Sia is one of my favorite artists, so I had some high expectations for this…" the Grassland Pokemon began. "And to be honest, I wasn't entirely disappointed. You were a bit too monotone for me. Yes, you had some parts where you really shined, no pun intended, but yeah, the monotony just earns you a seven from me."

"Yeah, the monotony was the main issue. You brought it back a bit in the chorus, but other than that, it just sounded like you were half-interested," Xerneas explained. "Six out of ten."

"Six out of ten," Mew shrugged. "Like they said, you were monotone, and the song is supposed to be a bit more passionate. Also, you added a few words that aren't in the lyrics…"

Shine nodded in understanding, and wasn't necessarily upset with her score. She got more than Carson, at least. She hopped off of the stage, walking to her team's set of bleachers.

"Okay, next up for the Ho-Ohs… Klavier!"

 **-000-**

The Gliscor, upon hearing his name, only sweated more and more out of nervousness. "I can't do this… I-I can't do this! I'm gonna embarrass myself and she's gonna think I'm a loser!"

Kojo grabbed a hold of the Gliscor, looking him in the eyes.

"Klav, you're just panicking right now. Just do what Shine said and take some deep breaths," Kojo said. "You can do this. Like Sally said, just focus on Holly and sing your heart out."

Klavier's pants slowed until he ultimately swallowed and wiped a few beads of sweat from his head.

"You got this, dude," the Mienshao reassured as Klavier flew out and onto the stage.

Getting out on stage, he was still trembling a bit, leading to a bit of concern from the hosts. "Are you okay Klavier?" Virizion queried.

"Y-Yeah, n-never better," he lied as he looked at Holly, who he saw had her own look of concern.

"Are you sure?" Xerneas asked in concern. "We can come back to you if you'd like…"

"No, no, no…" Klavier immediately responded. Procrastinating would only make this worse for him. "I-I'm good."

"Okay," the Life Pokemon replied. "What's your song?"

"'S-Say You Won't Let Go' by James Arthur'," the Gliscor replied shakily.

"Alrighty. Mew?" Virizion said, turning to the pink feline beside her.

Mew finished typing the song in, giving her a nod.

"Okay Klavier, just let us know when you're ready," Xerneas said.

Klavier immediately swallowed in nervous as his eyes went back and forth between the bleachers. He attempted to focus on Holly, but she was occasionally blocked by others. He began trembling a bit again before deciding to just begin. Mew hit the spacebar, allowing the instrumental to play.

" _I-I meet,_ _ **met**_ _you in the dark_

 _You light me up…_

 _You make me feel…"_

Seeing him struggle like this, Holly couldn't help but feel poorly. She noticed his eye movements earlier, and thought that he was nervous about the crowd. So, she decided to fly off of the bleachers and stand between both of them.

"Holly, what are you doing?!" Amethyst queried.

The Swoobat didn't respond, instead just watching Klavier. The Gliscor was perspiring profusely and fumbling with his words. When he saw Holly fly to the middle, he immediately swallowed, pausing his nerve-fueled mumbling.

He could hear his own heart beat and he saw Holly watch him. Thinking that he was done, the judges exchanged looks, only to be surprised when he actually started singing again, taking it from the top.

" _I m-met you in the dark…_

 _You lit me up…_

 _You made me feel as though…_

 _I was enough…_

 _We danced the night away_

 _We drank too much_

 _I held your head back when_

 _You were throwing up…"_

Seeing and hearing his demeanor suddenly change, and taking note of where he was looking, Virizion and Xerneas looked back to see Holly standing between the bleachers, causing smiles to form on their faces.

" _...closer to my chest_

 _And you asked me to stay over_

 _I said, I already told ya_

 _I think that you should get some rest."_

" _I knew I loved you then_

 _B-But you'd never know_

 _Cause I played it cool when I was scared to let you go_

 _I know I needed you_

 _But I never showed_

 _But I wanna stay with you_

 _Until we're gray and old_

 _Just say you won't let go…_

 _Just say you won't let go…"_

Klavier was so focused on Holly that he skipped over a few verses of the song and went straight to another chorus.

" _I'm so in love with you…_

 _And I hope you know…_

 _Darling, your love is more than its weight in gold…_

 _We've come so far, my dear_

 _Look how we've grown_

 _I wanna stay with you_

 _Until we're grey and old…_

 _Just say you won't let go…_

 _Just say you won't let go…"_

" _I wanna l-live with you_

 _Even when we're ghosts_

 _Cause you were always there for me_

 _When I needed you most"_

" _I'm gonna love you till_

 _My lungs give out_

 _I promise till death we part_

 _Like in our vows_

 _So I sang this song for you_

 _Now everyone knows_

 _That it's just you and me_

 _Until we're gray and old_

 _Just say you won't let go…_

 _Just say you won't let go…"_

When he finished, he just sat on the ground, looking down as sweat continued dripping from his face. Immediately, Holly flew up to Klavier, tackling him to the ground in a hug. He was surprised at this reaction from her. He sat up, hugging her back with a smile. He heard her sniffling and saw that she was teary-eyed.

This caused him to become a bit teary-eyed as well.

Mew was the first to speak up this time around. "Well, Klavier, you messed up a good amount of the words, and your stuttering was a problem. Plus your start was very weak. _But_ , your sincerity and focus lets me give you at least a five out of ten. "

"You two are just so cute!" Xerneas cooed. "The singing was off, but the fact that you were doing it for her really makes it amazing! Six out of ten!"

"I agree with Xerry, 100 percent!" Virizion cheered. "So, I'll have to agree with her score as well. Six out of ten!"

"That brings your score to a seventeen out of thirty," Xerneas announced. "So far, the Lugias are still in the lead, with fifty-four and a half out of ninety, and the Ho-Ohs are behind with thirty-six out of ninety. And next up for the Lugias is… Sally!"

 **-000-**

Klavier and Holly flew off of the stage together, with the Gliscor going to sit beside Phill, who high-fived him. Holly remained by his side, nuzzling up beside him. Seeing this, Amethyst felt a bit irked, but she understood.

 **000**

" **I never expected that," Holly commented, wiping a tear from her eye. "I just thought that he was having stage fright! I didn't think he was dedicating it to me!"**

" **It's… I can't even find the right words to say!" Holly blushed, a bit flustered about the situation.**

 **000**

 **Klavier let out a sigh of relief, wiping sweat off of his face. "I'm gonna take a long shower when this is over…"**

 **000**

" **Hopefully Holly doesn't start prioritizing Klavier over the game," Amethyst said. "It was an awesome and cute performance, but this is still a competition. Though… if Sven were here…"**

 **She let out a sigh before a look of realization, "Wait… Am I really thinking about this? I'm completely happy for them! I don't need to be focusing on this! Maybe I need to just take a step back for a while. I think I'm getting too high maintenance… Is that what it's called?**

 **000**

The Ampharos stepped out on the stage. She was pleased with the scene that happened before, but she still needed to focus on singing.

"Okay Sally, what is your song?" Virizion queried.

"'Scars to Your Beautiful' by Alessia Cara," she revealed.

Mew immediately got to work looking for the song's instrumental and lyrics. Eventually, he pulled both up in the same splitscreen format.

"Alright, Sally, let us know when you're ready," Xerneas called.

"You can hit play," the electric-type replied.

Mew hit the spacebar and looked at the lyrics as Sally began her song.

" _She just wants to be beautiful_

 _She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits_

 _She craves attention, she praises an image_

 _She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor_

 _Oh, she don't see the light that's shining_

 _Deeper than the eyes can find it_

 _Maybe we have made her blind_

 _So she tries to cover up her pain and cut her woes away_

 _Cause covergirls don't cry after their face is made…"_

Sally did well, but it came off as shrill and a bit standard. Nothing too different, though she had a good memory. She began putting more force and passion into the next part of the song.

" _But there's a hope that waiting for you in the dark_

 _You should know you're beautiful just the way you are_

 _And you don't have to change a thing_

 _The world could change its heart_

 _No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh-oh, oh, oh_

 _And you don't have to change a thing_

 _The world could change its heart_

 _No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful"_

Sally decided to end it there, not wanting to take too much time. She was honestly ready to go so she could just be done.

"Well, that was pretty short, but… I suppose it still works," Virizion commented. "Your pitch was a bit iffy, but I liked the passion behind the chorus. Seven out of ten."

"I wasn't that impressed, honestly, but like Viri said, your passion stood out," Xerneas commented. "Five out of ten…"

"It was decent in my opinion, _and_ you got the lyrics right, so… Six out of ten there," Mew finished.

"That brings your score to eighteen out of thirty," Xerneas announced.

Sally sighed as she climbed down from the stage, walking to her team's bleachers. She was disappointed that she didn't make it in the twenties. Because of her pitch? The fact that she didn't really mess up had to be worth _something._ But, at the end of the day, her team was still in the lead so far.

"Alright, next up for the Ho-Ohs is… Lassie!"

 **-000-**

The Froslass huffed, "Figures they'd make the two of you go last."

Summer and Kojo exchanged looks as the Snow Land Pokemon made her way on stage. She folded her arms. Not wanting to spend too long up there, she went ahead and divulged her song information.

"My song is 'We Don't Talk Anymore' by Charlie Puth, featuring Selena Gomez," Lassie explained. " _But,_ I'm only singing a bit of Selena's part."

The hosts exchanged looks, with Mew typing the song name. Once he had the instrumental and lyrics, he nodded to Virizion and Xerneas.

"Okay, uh…"

"Are you gonna scroll to when it's her part, or am I just going to have to wait?" the Froslass interrupted.

"Do you happen to know when her part begins?" Virizion replied, raising a brow.

"1:20," she stated simply.

The hosts blinked, while the other contestants just exchanged looks. Mew moved the pointer to the 1:20 mark and waited for a cue.

"You can play it…" Lassie deadpanned as she cleared her throat.

Mew tapped the spacebar, folding his arms at her attitude. She began to sing her song, and she wasn't really that far off from the actual voice.

" _I just hope your lying next to somebody_

 _Who knows how to love you like me_

 _There might be a good reason that you're gone_

 _Every now and then I think you_

 _Might want me to show up at your door_

 _But I'm too afraid that I'll be wrong…"_

" _Don't wanna know_

 _If you're looking in her eyes_

 _If she's holding onto you so tight_

 _The way I did before_

 _I overdosed_

 _Should've known your love was a game_

 _Now I can't get you out of my brain_

 _Oh, it's such a shame…"_

" _That we don't talk anymore…"_

She finished there, her arms folded. The hosts were surprised by her performance, while the others knew that the song was definitely chosen because of Egridos.

"Well, uh… it wasn't bad. You got a few words wrong here and there, but… Yeah, not bad," Virizion opined. "Eight out of ten."

"I'll give it an eight out of ten, too. You sounded almost like her, and it's frankly unnerving to me," Xerneas explained.

"Seven out of ten," Mew shrugged. "Not much to say, you did well…"

"And that makes your score a twenty-three out of thirty," Virizion announced.

Lassie nodded before floating off of the stage.

"Alright," Xerneas began. "We're down to the final two participants. So far, the Lugias have seventy-two-and-a-half points out of 120, while the Ho-Ohs have fifty-nine out of 120. Now, if Kojo manages to get above a seventeen, then the Lugias win, hands down."

"What? How does that make sense?!" Annie exclaimed.

"Uh… They have seventy points and you guys have fifty," Mew began. "Even if Summer got a perfect score, if Kojo gets a seventeen or above, you guys will still have fewer points."

"Because _somebody_ didn't feel like actually trying," Anthony stated, glowering at Fez.

Fez rolled his eyes.

"Kojo! Come on out!"

 **-000-**

The Mienshao, after getting a 'good luck' hug from Summer, headed onto the stage carrying the keyboard from the box of instruments.

"Oh, another original work?" Virizion rose a brow.

Kojo nodded, "Yeah. Just… Decided to do something different."

"Alright, and do you happen to have a name for this song?" Xerneas asked as she watched Kojo walk off of the stage to grab one of the microphone stands beside the stairs leading up to the stage.

Seeing this, the hosts went wide-eyed. Mew facepalmed, "I knew that something was wrong, but I couldn't tell what."

"Oh well, we still heard the others fairly well," Virizion shrugged before focusing back on the Mienshao. "Kojo?"

"Yeah, it's called 'You and I'", he said as he sat down with the keyboard. He brought the stand down to his level and tapped it to see if it worked. He heard the echo and sighed.

"Well, Kojo… Uh, you seem to have everything under control. So, you may begin when ready," Xerneas stated.

Kojo nodded as he took a breath. Summer stood at the stairs to watch him clearly as he began. He began playing the keyboard, his melodic, yet somber sound filling the air. He continued with it, making sure he got the hang of it.

" _I see you staring baby, don't walk away_

 _There's something important that I want to say_

 _When I'm with you, there is no better day_

 _I feel all alone_

 _Your perfect figure_

 _Oh, you are so sublime_

 _I suppose it's just a matter of time_

 _So many suitors, I want you to be mine_

 _You'll never be on your own…"_

" _When it's just you and I, don't worry 'bout the others_

 _When it's just you and I, we'll be a father and a mother_

 _When it's just you and I, there is never an another_

 _Don't you worry about a single thing..._

' _Cause you are the queen to my kiiing…"_

" _Just you and I, those hazel eyes_

 _Take my breath away_

 _Just you and I, your sexy form_

 _There is no decay_

 _You and I can rule the world_

 _I want you to stay_

 _You and me, eternity…"_

" _The doors are open, you can come right on in_

 _Oh, down the aisle, you are my greatest win_

 _My old flames fizzled, but you helped me ignite_

 _I don't want to go through all of the hurt again_

 _You brought me kindness, love, oh how I adore_

 _You are beautiful, you are not a whore_

 _We're meant to be, it's time that I give you more_

 _I want to be with you till the end…_

 _You are more than a girlfriend…"_

" _Just you and I_

 _Not single, this is our life_

 _Just you and I_

 _Together, husband and wife_

 _Just you and I_

 _Through all the stress and the strife_

 _You and I_

 _You and I_

 _You and I_

 _You helped me feel oh-so alive…"_

Kojo stopped playing momentarily, as everyone remained completely silent for the song, which worried him a bit. He continued for the final verse of his song.

" _You didn't go, I'm glad you're still here to stay_

 _Seeing your pretty face really makes my day_

 _And I'm sorry if this sounds so cliché_

 _There's just one more thing that I want to say…"_

His eyes immediately went to Summer, who was mesmerized by his vocals.

" _I love you, baby, you're the best that I have_

 _This question that I'm about to ask_

 _It's up to you, if you run or you laugh_

 _Hopefully you can do basic math…"_

" _Will you take me as a husband for life?_

 _It's been short, but I want you to be my wife_

 _Saying no is fine, I'll still love you the same…_

 _But I think you'd be happy with my last name…"_

Kojo finished his song, shielding his face as he couldn't help but blush at what he'd just done. Nobody was saying anything, which was really worrying him.

"U-Uh… Are you guys all okay?" he asked sheepishly. "It wasn't _that_ cheesy was it?"

He still got no response, prompting him to sigh in disappointment. Suddenly, he heard clapping. Looking out he saw Phill start clapping, winking at him. The clapping sound grew louder as the others started cheering and clapping as well. Well, those who _could_ anyway _._

"Kojo…" Xerneas said, sniffling a bit. "Congratulations. Not only for winning your team this challenge, but for your engagement!"

Everyone started cheering again, but Kojo knew that it wasn't even official. Summer hadn't accepted, nor had she even said anything regarding the song. Luckily enough, Anthony was kind enough to bring that situation to light.

"Hold on, hold on… Summer hasn't even accepted it…"

"Yeah, that may have been for nothing…" Taylor commented. "I hope it wasn't though…"

Sure, he found them annoying, but it was still an amazing gesture.

"S-Summer?" Kojo started.

Immediately, the Typhlosion leapt onto the stage and charged at him, tackling him down and kissing him. She wasn't letting him go, even after Kojo sat up and broke away.

"D-Does this mean?"

Summer had tears of joy streaming down her face as she nodded. Kojo felt himself beginning to tear up as well before hugging her tight.

"Well, this is just amazing," Mew chuckled. "It's been forever since someone on this show got engaged on camera."

"Well, Ho-Ohs, you guys will be dismissing one of you players tonight, and it can't be Lassie, Fez, Summer, Marion, _or_ Klavier," Virizion explained. "We'll see you tonight."

 **000**

" **I'M ENGAGED! YES! YES!" Summer cheered. "Not only this, but Annie goes home! This is the best day of my life! My boyfriend proposes** _ **and**_ **a pain in the ass gets the boot!"**

 **000**

 **Kojo chuckled, "Phill convinced me to go ahead and get the idea and engagement out there beforehand. Summer and I are both serious about our relationship, we want it to work, and we already spend most of our time together."**

" **I still feel like it's a bit too early, but even so, she's the one that I want to be with. Till death do us part."**

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were at the elimination ceremony, ready to leave and head to the party Virizion and Xerneas were having in celebration of the newly engaged couple.

"Now, let's get this show on the road so we can eat some cake and ice and enjoy the rest of this night," Mew commented. He was the only one there tonight, as the girls prepped the gazebo for the party. "Marshmallows for the future bride, Marion, Fez, Lassie, and Klavier…" he began, tossing them to each of them.

"Aura, Aspen, Marie, Anthony, Titan, and Cramad, you guys are safe as well," Mew continued, tossing their marshmallows at them.

Phill and Annie were the only ones remaining.

"Uh… Why am I at the bottom?" the Raticate queried.

"I guess some of us don't take too kindly to you and Klavier getting special treatment because of you-"

"Phill, you're safe," Mew interrupted, tossing him a marshmallow. "Annie, you're literally ruining the positive mood we have, so can we just hurry and get this over with?"

Annie sighed, "Fine. But first, let me just say that I'm sorry for how I acted. It was out of line and shouldn't have happened. However, that doesn't excuse the favoritism that's going to circulate as time goes on. Also, Summer, uh… I'm happy for you and all, but don't you think it's a bit too early to think about marrying Kojo? You've only been speaking for about… two months, and that's out of the twenty plus years we've been in this game. Plus, haven't we learned that some marriages and relationships fall apart rather easily if they're formed in this ga-"'

"Annie, just go. No one cares," Marie interrupted. "At this point, your apology is worthless because you're still acting like an annoying bitch."

Mew lifted her via kinesis, carrying her toward the dock. With them leaving, the remaining Ho-Ohs began heading to the gazebo.

 **000**

Mew placed Annie down on the dock. She entered the elimination device without saying a word before grumbling once inside. "This is bullshit."

"No, your attitude shift was bullshit," Mew corrected. "I'm sure everyone liked you better as a supporting nice girl…"

He pressed the button, sending her down. With her gone, he sighed in relief, "Now for cake and ice cream!"

He started floating toward the gazebo with the others.

 **000**

 **And there we have it! Annie's gone! Songs were sang. Kojo and Summer are now engaged… Lots of good going on for the campers now. I wonder what'll happen next. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	21. Burst Your Bubble

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon Underdogs, the contestants had to load their pipes and sing their hearts out. Annie began feeling a bit bad about how she acted, but continued to make good advice that was quickly ignored. Hex revealed that his parents planned the sexual encounter that made him and Aspen siblings and asked Morgan to bond with and help her out. In the main challenge, five players from each team had to choose or write a song to perform in front of the hosts. There were many really good performances from the likes of Lassie and Ashton, and not-so great performances from Carson or Fez. It all ended with an amazing performance from Kojo, which was combined with a marriage proposal to Summer. At the end of the day, Annie was the one eliminated due to her annoying tendencies and uselessness.**

 **What will happen today? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Cramad woke up in her Loser Cabin bed. At the party last night, she ended up taking a few Jell-O shots and ended up feeling a bit woozy and sick. Titan insisted that she go back to the cabin and get some rest, and eventually she did.

Her head was pounding from the alcohol she had consumed. With a groan, she stood up on her mattress and noticed that nobody else was inside. She rose a brow in confusion, initially. However, given the depiction of party aftermaths in movies and television shows that she'd seen, she had an idea of where everyone was.

Heading to the door, she pushed it open and saw that it was still a bit dark outside. She rose a brow, "Huh, it must be early."

She exited the cabin, only to see Titan sprawled out at the door in front of the boy's side. She could only shake her head in amusement. She walked up to him and started poking him in order to wake him up. Given that he didn't budge, Cramad sighed, "Well, he's hammered. That's great…"

She started walking toward the gazebo, expecting to see a lot of her fellow competitors passed out and randomly lying around. Her expectations were well grounded, as what she expected was actually the case. A number of her teammates were sound asleep either on or around the party site. The lights were dim, the tables were turned, some balloons were deflating, and there was still a fair amount of food left over on the tables.

She groaned to herself, "Yep." Looking around, she noticed that none of the Lugias were around. Summer wasn't there either, nor was Klavier. She rolled her eyes in slight annoyance as she thought about the cause of the party: Summer and Kojo's engagement.

The Parasect was happy for them just as much as everyone else, but what Annie said held true. They were moving too fast for their own good. And the favoritism on the team, as well as in the competition in general, needed to stop. She wasn't one to shove her ideals down her throat, as she started this show lacking any real ideals of her own. But, she knew that she was going to have to talk to the self-proclaimed leaders of the team and try not to get on their nerves.

However, seeing that everyone was pretty much buzzed and unconscious, she knew that she'd have to wait a while before she was able to really talk to _anyone_. She looked up at the sky as the cool breeze of the early morning jostled the leaves. She yawned as she looked around, seeing that the breeze was bothering a few of her teammates. There was nothing that she could do about it, as a fair amount of them were too big to carry or drag back.

She decided to just leave them be for the time being and head back to bed. Going back to the cabin, she eyed Titan's unconscious form. She was tempted to leave him out there for fun, but given that he was already so close, she decided to drag him inside of the girls' side of the cabin.

 **000**

The newly engaged couple had been talking non-stop since the party ended and everyone just dropped. There were in their usual room, and strangely enough, they weren't talking about any wedding plans or anything of that nature. Instead, they were just staring at the ceiling, talking about their current situation.

"Well, I'd be an idiot if I didn't think that the proposal was a bit sudden," Summer stated. "It's only been about two months of this show. I mean, I know that I love you and I want to be with you. But… My mom also told me that marriage is sacred and you can't just throw yourself into it."

"I told Phill and Klavier that I wanted to wait a few more months," Kojo explained, still staring at the ceiling. "I wanted to officially dump Floatzelle, face the obligatory backlash that I'll get from it, and just spend a lot more time with you _outside_ of the game. Then, if we were still holding strong, I'd pop the question."

"And Phill told you to just do it anyway, right?" Summer giggled.

The Mienshao chuckled in response, "Yeah, you got it."

"Well… We can still wait for that," Summer replied, grabbing hold of his hand with a yawn. "We can spend more time together before anything serious really happens."

"If you wanted to, you could have said no. I wouldn't have minded and my original plan would have be set in stone," he responded with a chuckle.

"Well," Summer began, rolling over onto him. "You're stuck with me now, because I'm not taking it back unless we have a huge argument or you cheat on me."

"Well, technically I'm already cheating _with_ you, so that'd mean I'd have to have a side chick _for_ my side chick. Well, _fiancee…"_

The Typhlosion over him smacked his chest before pressing a finger against it. "And for the record, if I found out about that side chick, I'd kill her since I can't kill you."

"But then you'd go to prison…"

"I can't die, either, so I'd just keep kicking those bitches' asses until my time was up," Summer explained playfully as she yawned again.

Kojo chuckled, "Is someone tired?"

"Well, we've been talking all night. What do you think?" Summer asked as she adjusted herself and lied on him.

Kojo smiled as she nuzzled under his neck. He was so happy that she was understanding and fine with waiting as long as they needed. He kissed her forehead, "I love you…"

"I love you, too," Summer yawned before finally closing her eyes and resting.

The Mienshao rolled onto his side, holding onto her, before drifting off to sleep himself.

 **000**

Hours passed. The sun slowly rose over the horizon and shined down on the island. The cool breeze that was gusting earlier in the day was replaced with blistering heat.

Feeling sunlight beam down on her face, Aspen shuffled a bit in her sleep, flipping over so that it didn't irritate her. She felt breathing against her face upon turning around and finally opened her eyes to see Aura's sleeping form. She looked around slowly, attempting to register everything around her.

She was still a bit groggy and her head was pounding. As she slowly stood up, she felt the heat hit her like a truck. She groaned, "What the heck? Why is it so hot?"

She began gaining a bit of understanding of her surroundings. She was still standing in the gazebo next to the tables. She was still under the shaded part of the gazebo, but she felt the heat.

She saw that a lot of her teammates were either still asleep or in a daze. She heard her stomach start gurgling and shuddered a bit. She leaned down to nuzzle Aura awake. After a while, Aura groaned and came to, sitting up while rubbing her eye.

The heat she felt made her feel a bit woozy as she almost collapsed on the concrete. Aspen helped her up, seeing that she was about to fall over. "Aura, are you okay?"

The Glaceon moaned before weakly responding, "No, I don't feel too great…"

"Come on. Let's get to the washrooms," the Poodle Pokemon insisted. "I don't feel that great, either."

Aura suddenly gagged. "I-I need a bathroom…"

Aspen nodded as she started walking away from the gazebo, passing by the still sleeping forms of the likes of Phill and Fez. The two of them seemed to be the only two that were still completely knocked out, which made sense since Phill at the most out of everyone and Fez got drunk and then got his block knocked off by Lassie for trying to kiss her.

 **-000-**

The two girls made it to the outside of the washrooms, but Aura was unable to hold herself and rushed to some nearby bushes. She retched violently, making Aspen flinch as she did so. After a while, spitting sounds were heard and Aura returned, trembling a bit before collapsing on the ground.

Gasping in concern, Aspen rushed up and nudged her, "Aura, come on."

The Glaceon could only groan softly in response. The poodle, despite feeling a bit uneasy and sick, herself, helped her friend onto her back.

Marie was already inside of the washroom, bathing. She briefly paused, holding her head with one hand, while her other hand was against the wall of the washroom. The cold water rained down on her face as she panted softly. She could vaguely remember what happened last night. The only thing she remembered was waking up on top of Anthony and having a _very_ strong _feeling_ that something happened between the two of them.

She was unsure, but she decided to just accept it if it _did_ happen. The only thing she was really worried about was whether or not she was gonna end up pregnant. She sighed to herself before hearing the door creak open and seeing Aspen enter with Aura on her back.

The Feraligatr rose a brow, "I see you guys are finally up. What happened?"

Aspen sighed as she lied Aura down in a shower compartment. "Hangovers… And this heatwave is just making everything worse. Aura puked and passed out."

Marie nodded, "Well, just… Get her under some cold or lukewarm water; it'll wake her up a bit. I was a bit groggy earlier too."

Aspen nodded in response as she reached up to turn on the water. The water rained down upon the both of them, causing a bit of shock for Aspen at the sudden feeling. She shuddered and closed her eyes as she started relaxing and letting the water rain down normally.

Some of the water washed over Aura, who slowly began to sit up due to the water. She groaned, holding her head before looking around. She vision was a bit blurry initially, but she got readjusted and saw that Aspen was just sitting under the showerhead, allowing the water to cleanse her.

Understanding her and knowing what she was doing, Aura joined alongside her, allowing the cold water to wash over her as well.

 **000**

" **Arceus, my head is still pounding from last night…" Aura groaned. "I hope they don't give us a challenge today… I'm sure that everyone would still be pretty hungover."**

 **000**

Mew groggily got up, holding his head. He saw that he was lying on a couch in the living room of the Hall of Origins, which was very messy. There were pizza boxes, ribbons, confetti, pie pans, and an overall sweet scent in the air.

While they decided to throw a party for the contestants celebrating Summer and Kojo's engagement, back at the hall, Entei and Lunala decided to throw a party for Solgaleo to try and lift his spirits. However, while all of the other legends had a great time, the lion's demeanor didn't change.

"Fuck me…" he groaned as he floated off of the couch. He wasn't really drunk, as psychic-types couldn't really get drunk or feel the effects of drugs, he just had a major headache from all of the food, loud music, and movements that he felt.

He looked at the clock beside him and saw that it was nearing noon. He was unsure about whether or not he should even do a challenge due to his grogginess and Virizion and Xerneas' possible drunkenness. He wasn't entirely sure how the contestants were doing, either. But, then he realized that the faster they get these challenges done, the sooner he'd be free.

He decided to go see how Virizion and Xerneas were doing and, knowing them, went to Cobalion's room. On his way to the 'wall of doors' he saw Raikou and Suicune sleeping in the kitchen, Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu lying under an overturned table, the Regis lying in holes in the wall, and Keldeo hanging from a light fixture.

He just shook his head at them as he floated up to the room of the Iron Will Pokemon. He knocked on the door and waited for a moment, but got no response. He pressed a button to open the door a bit so that he could see what was going on. Upon going in, he immediately twitched at the sight of the two sleeping girls, as well as Cobalion.

He floated back out of the room before slamming the door. He did so to hopefully wake them up. He heard groaning and shuffling from inside and rolled his eyes. "XERNEAS! VIRIZION!"

He got a groan in response. It took a few more seconds for one of the girls to respond. "Yeah?" Xerneas groaned from inside.

Mew continued, "We've got a challenge to host. C'mon, we've all gotta get cleaned up."

It was Virizion's turn to speak, "Do we _have_ to do a challenge today?"

Mew deadpanned, "Hey, the sooner we finish the show, the sooner we'll be able to just chill here again. Now come on..."

He decided to go ahead and float to the showers on his own.

 **000**

"Arceus, I'm glad that I settled on just having a bit of wine," Morgan groaned as she stretched in her bed. A chill went up her spine, however, as the entire cabin had a significantly lower temperature then usual. "Why is it so cold in here?" she shivered.

Shine offered an explanation, "It's 97 degrees outside, so I turned on the air conditioning in here. I'm just hoping that they don't expect us to still participate in a challenge after most of you ended up getting very drunk."

Ace, who was still halfway covered up with his bed's blanket, spoke up, "Yeah. I'm glad that I didn't drink anything. Seeing how some of you all acted really scared me."

"Well, I barely remember what happened," Sola replied, rubbing her eyes. "But, what exactly scared you?"

"Well, some of the activities of last night included, but are not limited to: Aspen and Aura making out for a good ten seconds, Taylor and Connor having sex again, Anthony and Marie going somewhere private in the woods to likely have sex, Phill eating a majority of everything and acting erratically, Fez trying to kiss Lassie and getting knocked out by her, Sally trying to pole dance, and Sola, you almost made out with me, but I stopped you…"

The girls stared in shock upon hearing that. Even Morgan didn't remember seeing all of that happen!

Seeing their looks of disbelief, Shine continued, "Yeah, so I just teleported us all back here before things escalated further."

"Good call," Sally stated. "What the hell was I even gonna do on a pole?! I don't know any stripper tricks!"

"But, you could learn," Sola corrected, giving her a sultry smirk.

Sally gave her a look in response, "Don't. Just don't."

Morgan sighed, "Well, let's ignore that and talk about the results of yesterday's challenge. All I have to say is… We did almost incredible."

"Yeah, I have to agree," Shine chimed in. "Ashton really surprised me…"

Ace nodded, "I think she surprised _everyone_. She got the second highest score if I remember correctly…"

"You'd be right," Shine responded. "If she keeps this up, we may have another valuable teammate after all."

"And speaking of value…" Sola started, "Anyone else think that Carson has overstayed his welcome at this point?"

Sally nodded, "Oh, there's no question about that. He hasn't proven himself useful in the slightest besides when we used him for Sunny Day in the snow challenge. And even after that, he's failed or done poorly in challenges that he _has_ tried to be helpful with."

Morgan stated matter-of-factly, "Amethyst is trying to shove herself and her friends down our throats so that we don't vote for them, and Connor and Taylor are apparently going to help them _and_ hurt them at the same time. So, we're in a bit of trouble if we lose more challenges."

"Well, not necessarily," Ace corrected. "There's twelve of us left. And with six of them trying to go for one of us, all we have to do is get Kojo on our side and we're golden."

"Except Kojo is close with Holly, who is dating one of his friends," Shine explained. "Unless we put up a convincing argument, I feel like he's not going to help us…"

The Persian shrugged, "We'll never know unless we try. And until we lose another challenge, we shouldn't really worry about it."

She started getting out of bed, the cold causing her to shiver. "I'm gonna make some breakfast…"

As she left the room, the others began to exit as well. "I think I'd rather just have a cup of coffee," Sola commented as she followed them all to the front of the cabin."

 **000**

Klavier and Holly were lying in a bed together. It wasn't in a very intimate fashion as, despite pushing two of the beds together, they remained separate. Klavier was very worried about sending the wrong message and upsetting her. He didn't want that, especially after their loving moment in the previous challenge.

The couple wasn't alone in the room, as Amethyst, Ashton, and Carson were all still pretty much sound asleep. The couple was awake at the moment, with Klavier staring at the ceiling and Holly preparing to leave the bed. Seeing his distant expression as he stared at the ceiling's wood, Holly grew a bit concerned.

"Klavie, are you okay?" Holly asked, holding a wing on his forehead.

The Gliscor breathed out silently, "Yeah, I'm okay. Just… Thinking a bit. That's all."

"Thinking about what?" the Swoobat inquired.

Klavier continued to stare at the ceiling before turning to her and then looking back up at the ceiling. "Just… You and me… I never want you to feel uncomfortable with me, so I'm just… Keeping my distance, I suppose."

Holly giggled at this, "Klavier, you don't have to worry about that. You don't make me uncomfortable."

"I just don't know…" Klavier expressed with a sigh. "I feel like I'm pressuring you."

"Pressuring me to what? Be with you? Like you?"

Klavier didn't respond, but his frown gave Holly his answer. She scooted closer to him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "You don't have to feel that way. You're not pressuring me to do anything."

Klavier sighed as Holly hugged him.

 **000**

" **I don't know what's wrong with me," Klavier explained. "I'm happy that we're dating and that she's accepting, but I just… Can't help but feel insignificant. Even after yesterday!"**

 **He sighed, "Well, hopefully the feeling goes away."**

 **000**

Anthony walked out of the guys' side of the washrooms before leaning against the doorway, holding his head. "Mother of Arceus, what was last night?"

After a while, he heard someone exit the girls' side. He saw that it was Marie and, upon her exiting, the two locked eyes, faint blushes appearing on their faces. The Blastoise cleared his throat as he approached the Feraligatr, "Hey."

Marie took a while to respond, "Hi…"

Anthony sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Uh… Do you happen to remember anything that happened last night?"

Marie opened her mouth to respond, but found it difficult to do so as she was still unsure. She didn't feel anything _inside_ of her, but then again, he might have pulled out. "We may or may not have had sex," she explained.

Anthony blinked in response, afraid that that was the case. He sighed before sitting down against the wall, holding his head. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me…"

Marie rose a brow at this reaction. She briefly thought that he'd be impressed that they were able to get _that_ drunk and not remember it _and_ the fact that they possibly had sex. However, the conversation about protection they had a while back flashed back in her mind and she understood his concerns.

She sat down next to him, "Well, I don't know if you pulled out or not, nor if it _actually_ happened. And if I do get pregnant… We'll just have to be responsible."

Anthony turned to her before sighing. "Yeah, I guess. And don't worry, as confused as I'll be, I won't be a deadbeat _if_ you're pregnant…"

Marie smiled upon hearing that. Most guys would've been immature and told her to get an abortion or that they weren't going to help her. If she had to be honest, given the Blastoise's personality, she thought that he'd just fall into that same boat and they'd end up having an argument. She was glad that her assumption was incorrect.

She immediately grabbed him and kissed him. This came to a surprise to the Blastoise, but he accepted it. She pulled away after a while, staring at him lovingly. Anthony returned the sentiment, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer. He kissed her cheek and rubbed her arm.

 **000**

 **Marie was blushing, something that wasn't really common for her. She exhaled, "We don't even know if we really had sex, but he's actually saying that he'll be there if I turn out pregnant.."**

" **Didn't really expect him to take it that seriously," Marie continued. "Our relationship was never anything major. We just distracted ourselves with each other for a while and just let things take their course since then."**

" **I think we should just wait a while until I can get a test or I start to feel weird to actually start panicking or worrying," she explained. "Sometimes unprotected sex still doesn't get a girl pregnant. Or, like I said before, maybe he pulled out. Neither of us really remember much. But, I'm just glad that he'll be willing to stay and help out if we are."**

 **000**

"Come on you two…" Mew stated as he waited outside of the legendaries' washroom.

After a few minutes, the girls exited the washrooms, still a bit wet from their showers. They held rather annoyed expressions, as they felt that a free day would be acceptable.

Mew, noticing their annoyed expressions, rolled his eyes. "Come on, like I said, the faster we finish this show, the faster you two can do whatever you want with Cobalion again. Granted, you girls have been all over him ever since both of you decided to share him and it'd be in your best interest to show more personality than that."

Virizion rose a brow as she looked at Xerneas, who was just as confused and a bit offended, "And what does _that_ mean?"

"The fact that most people who watch the show see you two more as sex icons than actual hostesses is a bit annoying to me," Mew explained. "Hell, even some ladies who watch the show call you two 'stereotypical girly girls who were only in the show for sex appeal'. And while _I_ know that they're idiots, I can see their points at times."

"But we barely even mention Cobalion while we're doing our jobs!" Xerneas argued.

"I think it's the fact that you two are always around him here, the fact that you two kissed on the island when you first got there, and those tight outfits you wore during the last challenge," Mew explained.

Virizion huffed, "Well fuck everyone who thinks that way. We're not gonna change for the vocal minority. Let's just go host this next challenge…"

"Glad to see that it put some pep in you guys' step," Mew said, admiring their new confidence.

The girls gave the feline a look of unamusement, leading him to clear his throat, "L-Let's get to the island…"

 **000**

"So… You're proposing a voting pact?" Lassie queried as she, Marion, and Cramad conversed in the girls' side of the Loser Cabin.

After the two of them woke up, Cramad decided to explain what Annie was talking about, albeit in a more civilized manner.

"In a sense, yes," Cramad replied. "Even though she explained it rather horridly, Annie was right about the favoritism on the team. But, it's also been going on for a majority of the time on the show."

"Seriously, what favoritism?" Lassie queried. "This is a competition. We pick and choose who we want to eliminate based on whether someone is useful or if we actually like them or not."

Cramad sighed."No, that's actually common sense. I mean that they decide to keep certain people here despite them being completely useless, too. And there's the fact that a good amount of people who've competed on the show are put on a high pedestal and can do no wrong."

Marion looked to Lassie, who held her head. "Uh, Cramad, why try bringing all of this up now? You saw how it went with Annie."

"Because, Annie helped me understand how the show and how we all work a bit better, " she explained. "I understand that we all have friends that we want to keep in longer than others, but if they're just as useless as you're making other people out to be, that's just completely unacceptable."

Lassie rose a hand to stop her, "Okay. Again, this is a _competition_. People will do whatever they want and join forces with whoever they want in order to make it further in the game. Now, I will agree with the 'getting mad at one person when another person is just as bad thing' being annoying and unfair, but that's how life works. It's like in school when a whole bunch of kids are talking, but the teacher only decides to call out one person despite everyone else being just as guilty."

"Ugh… I hated that," Marion groaned, folding her arms.

"Now, about this 'pedestal' thing, you mind elaborating on that?" Lassie queried.

Cramad took a breath, "Well, let's see. Lila is probably the most popular female on the show, yet she's literally castrated someone during the first season. Spike ended up gaining a following and a brand of needles named after him because of how he kept stabbing Flynn in the first season. Shade has literally committed murder, but still isn't it jail. Nate has a dark side that wants to rape and kill whoever is in his way, but he isn't in an insane asylum. Essentially, all of the people who are seen as 'awesome', 'badass', or 'nice' and are popular do fucked up things and nobody bats an eye. And if someone _does_ say something, they're an asshole."

"And… _Annie_ told you all of this?" Lassie queried, raising a brow. "Does she really care _that_ much about what we do and how popular we all are? Jeez..."

"And that leads to this. I'm telling you guys this now, but when Annie tried to call out the favoritism and the fact that Summer spends more time with Kojo, she got voted out," Cramad continued.

"Uh… No," Lassie replied. "Annie got voted out because she was useless and annoying. She kept trying to blame other people and tell _us_ how-"

Cramad gave her a look, making the Froslass pause, as she understood what she was getting at.

"Annie made good points. Aura, Aspen, Klavier, Phill, and Fez are pretty much useless, too. Yet she gets targeted for… What? Telling them the harsh truth? Now, I admit that she could have just said it in a non-confrontational manner, but her points still stand."

"Except the fact that Lila was going to be sexually assaulted, Flynn almost let Spike hurt himself as a baby, Shade has had mental and physical trauma, and Nate didn't want to nor _does_ he want anything to do with that dark side of his. He's actually tried fighting it off on numerous occasions," Marion explained.

"That doesn't excuse it," Cramad shrugged. "And I'm not trying to sound apathetic or anything, but there are ways that things could've been handled differently. Lila could have just called for help, Shade and Shine could have stepped in and told Spike to _stop_ and severed all ties with him, Shade should've gone to therapy or a mental institution, and the same goes for Nate."

"Look, Cramad, just get to your point. What do you want from us?"

"Well, I'm gonna talk to Anthony and Marie about the favoritism thing today. If they don't decide to do something about it, I say that we take out either Phill, Aura, or Aspen on our own," she explained.

Lassie shrugged, "Whatever. As long as I'm not the target."

Marion, however, was unsure. She, Titan, Annie all tried to eliminate her, so trusting her now was out of the picture. Though, the more the she thought about it, the wider her smile grew. "Um… Sure, I guess."

 **000**

" **Annie, Cramad, and Titan tried to vote** _ **me**_ **off, so I guess I can use this to get a bit of payback," Marion shrugged.**

 **000**

"CAMPERS! REPORT TO THE BEACH FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

"Ugh, they're seriously making us do a challenge in this heat?" Lassie expressed in discontent. "I was lucky enough to make it cold in _here_ for us!"

"Well, hopefully the challenge deals with something else that's cold," Marion thought out loud.

The two of them began filing out of the cabin, with Cramad gazing at Titan's still sleeping form and letting out a sigh.

 **000**

A majority of the campers made it to the beach, the heat beaming down on all of them made standing outside unbearable for the non-fire, ground, and water-types. Some of the players were still a bit grog and lead-footed from last night, as well ass annoyed that they were out in the heat.

"Well, we can see that some of you are still a bit tipsy and tired from last night, but the show must go on," Mew explained. "The faster we finish the show, the faster you guys are free."

"But how do you expect us to get anything done if some of us are still a bit out of it?" Marion queried.

"It's okay. We brought some Antidotes for you guys," Virizion explained as Xerneas dragged a cardboard box over. "These antidotes should set you guys' minds straight again."

"What about everyone else that's not here?" Holly queried.

There weren't many players that were absent. The only ones that really weren't there were Taylor, Connor, Fez, Phill, Kojo, and Summer.

Mew shrugged, "Eh, the rule that Victini placed still stands. You can skip out on challenges if you want, but if you miss more than two and your team happens to lose when you're absent, you're automatically out of the game."

"Wait, so is it too late to go back to bed?" Anthony started, making Marie elbow him.

"Anyways, take your Antidotes. We're not gonna tell you the challenge and risk you all not knowing what to do later on," Virizion said.

The players that knew that they were still a bit _off_ all went toward the box of medicine in order to detox and set their minds straight. Once they did so, they returned to their places to receive their challenge. Some still felt rather tired, though.

"Okay, now that you all are back to your right state of mind, let's move on to the challenge," Mew started.

He gestured to the ocean, where numerous red balloons were seen floating, each of them attached to something. "As you can see, there are numerous balloons set up out in the ocean. Using those speedboats, you are required to pop those balloons until you find one with a key inside."

Carson interrupted, "Uh… W-What's the key for?"

"We were getting to that, Carson," Virizion responded, making the Bronze Bell Pokemon flinch. "Now, the key will be used to unlock one of your fellow campers, who will be locked in a box that will slowly fill with water."

Mew gestured to two transparent boxes sitting up side-to-side. The campers present all stared in awe and fright. This was a challenge that Victini would come up with!

"The team that finds the key and unlocks their teammate the fastest wins immunity. The losing team loses a player," Xerneas finished.

"So, this challenge may actually be short depending on how lucky you guys get," Virizion said with a smile.

"Nice," Ace commented with a smile.

"So, where are these speed boats that are apparently large enough to hold over ten people?" Aura asked sarcastically.

"They're located near the dock," Mew explained, gesturing to the dock. "However, before you guys do that, you need to decide who's going into the water box."

"What gave you guys the idea of a water box anyway?" Sally asked, still in disbelief about the contraption. "It feels like something that Victini would do."

"Well, you guys are immortal, so you can't necessarily drown," Mew explained. "So, this isn't something that you guys really need to worry about."

"So, get to choosing and you guys can start cruising," Virizion said.

"If you don't mind me asking, but is it necessary for everyone on our team to be on the boat?" Shine asked curiously. "It sounds more counterproductive and will likely slow us down."

"Oh, speaking of that, we forgot to mention something else about your speedboats," Xerneas started, turning to Virizion and Mew.

Virizion's eyes lit up, knowing what she was talking about. "Oh, right. In order to pop the balloons, your speedboats are equipped with a bean shooter. You _must_ use the bean shooter to pop the balloons until you are able to get the key."

"Okay, now how is _that_ going to work?!" Morgan asked, befuddled by the new rule for the challenge.

Mew decided to speak up, "Now, for your questions and concerns. Shine, as long as at least five to six of you are in the boat, you are fine. The rest of your teammates can stay on the beach with us."

The Espeon nodded in understanding. The New Species Pokemon then turned to the Persian. "As for how the bean shooter works, it is attached to the back of the speedboat and is already filled with beans. One of you simply has to mount it and fire when you're close to the balloons.

"Are we allowed to fire at the other team's boat?" Cramad queried.

"Yeeeee-ah," Mew strained, turning to the hostesses, who nodded in confirmation. Getting the go-ahead from the girls, he continued, "So, go ahead and decide who will be getting into the box, and who will be going out to sea for the challenge."

 **000**

"Okay, so we're missing three of our players…" Marie recapped, bringing her hands together in annoyance. "But, the challenge must still go on."

"Can't we just go find them and wake them up so that they can participate?" Marion queried.

Marie shook her head, "No, no, I think we'll still be okay. We still have nine players. "

Hearing that, Cramad gave Lassie a look. The Parasect found it oddly coincidental that two of the three that were absent from the team were two that Annie expressed her distaste for. The Froslass rolled her eyes upon receiving the look.

"Well, if that's the case, I say that either you or Anthony get in the box. You guys are water-types anyway, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue," Titan reasoned.

"Goes from being passed out drunk to actually making sense. Instant change," Aura giggled.

"Those Antidotes are a godsend," Titan replied simply.

Anthony and Marie exchanged looks. They were both perfectly fine with going in the box, but Anthony felt that he should do it just out of respect for Marie. "I've got it," the Blastoise said.

Marie smiled softly, nodded affirmatively. She turned back to the remaining players on the team. "Okay, we need a good driver and a good shot. Then the rest of us can just pile in as we please."

"Well, I'm not a good shot or a good driver, but I know I'm going out on the water. This heat is ridiculous!" Aspen stated as she lifted her paws repeatedly. "It even hurts to stand still in the sand for too long!"

"Uh… okay," Marie replied with a nod. "Now for the actual driving and shooting, we'll need people that have good, functioning appendages that can grip."

"In other words, myself, yourself, Aura, Marion, or Klavier. Even Summer or Phill if they end up waking up in time," Lassie replied.

"I still say that we should go get them," Aura replied. "We need as much help as we can get."

Anthony rose a brow, "We only need the shooter and driver and it can be done by anyone with actual, functioning appendages like Marie said. You guys will be fine."

"Uh… I can do the driving, I guess," Klavier shrugged.

"And… I volunteer Aura to the firing," Lassie stated, patting the shiny Glaceon on the back.

Said Glaceon gave her a look before responding, "Hey, why don't _you_ go Ms. Cold Touch?"

"Because I participated in the last challenge and was the only one to even break twenty points," Lassie explained, her arms folded. "Meanwhile, you've been looking rather… Useless."

Aura scoffed, "We're all useless in some way, shape, or form. No use in even bringing that up. I don't even know why that's even still an insult or reasoning. But, if it gets you off my back… I'll happily man the bean shooter."

Lassie shrugged, "Whatever you say."

"Okay, and who's going to tag along other than Aspen?"

A light bulb immediately illuminated in Cramad's head, "Uh… I'll go with them!"

Marie nodded, "Okay, and we need one more person."

"I'll do it," Marion stated. "I've got nothing better to do…"

Marion had a feeling that Cramad was going to try and inform Aspen, Aura, and Klavier of the same thing she had told her and Lassie about. The Marionette Pokemon knew that once the challenge was over, she'd have to act fast and talk to them before they make their votes.

Marie smacked her lips, "Okay, good luck you guys. Just give it your all."

The five participants nodded in understanding as they began deliberating about what type of strategy they should use.

 **000**

"Okay, we need to get Taylor, Kojo, and Connor out of the cabin," Sola stated sternly. "Taylor's the only water-type we have, so it shouldn't even bother him to be under."

"But didn't they say that we couldn't drown?" Carson reminded.

"Yes, but I feel like it's in our best interest to not risk even _feeling_ like we're going to drown," Shine explained. "So, I'm gonna bring them here so that they can actually participate."

"We have the person going in the box, in that case," Morgan spoke up, while Shine's eyes glowed blue. "We need to determine who's going to handle firing the bean shooter and who's going to drive us around."

Amethyst decided to leave things alone this time around. She wasn't going to pressure her friends to participate anymore. Seeing Holly and Klavier's interaction in the previous challenge really ate at her and made her feel like a jerk for how she'd been acting.

"Hmm… Maybe I should do something," Ace suggested. "I haven't really been doing much for the team, to be honest."

"Sure Ace," Sola shrugged. The Absol giggled in her mind. She honestly hadn't done anything major either, yet she was still doing well in the game. That was going to change as time went on, of course, but it was still funny and interesting to think about.

"Okay, so would you drive or fire the weapon?" Holly queried.

Eventually, Taylor, Connor, and Kojo were all teleported to the beach, landing in the sand under the blistering heat. A collective groan was heard from the three guys, with Kojo being the one on the bottom.

"What the heck happened?" Connor groaned, lying on Kojo's stomach.

"Get up," Shine stated sternly. "We've got a challenge to do."

The Bouffalant, upon hearing that, groaned in annoyance. He shakily rose up, his head throbbing a bit. He ended up lifting up Taylor, who was still passed out with a dopey look on his face. The Milotic slipped off of his back, smacking his head on the sandy ground.

With a groan, Kojo slowly picked himself up as well. "Mother of Arceus…" he said, holding a paw against his head. He and Summer didn't really drink that much, knowing the possible outcomes, but he was still a bit drowsy since they stayed up late.

Sally walked toward the guys, holding three antidotes. She handed one to Kojo, while Connor's was unscrewed and placed into his mouth for him to drink.

"What's this for?" the Mienshao queried as Connor threw his head back to down the medicine.

"It's to get all of the alcohol out of your system so you can focus…" Morgan explained. "Now, come on. We know that you and Summer want some more 'special time', but this is just as important."

Kojo gave her a look, "What happened to my break?"

"Kojo-"

"It's okay, Morgan," Sally interrupted as she poured the Antidote down Taylor's throat. "We told him that he wouldn't have to play a major part in challenges for a while. I'll use the bean shooter."

Morgan huffed, "Well, then I guess Ace will be the one driving."

She glanced at Kojo vexedly, unappreciative of his lack of cooperation. Yes, they made a deal with him, but this was still a team effort. He still needed to participate. However, her look softened the more she thought about it. If she was in his shoes, she wouldn't want to do anything either. She decided to just let it go and move on.

"Okay, so we still need three people to go along for the boat ride," Amethyst reminded.

Sola shrugged, "I'll go. I'm not sure why more than two people are required, but it'll be good to be around the water instead of just the heat."

Holly shared the same sentiments as Sola, believing that being out in the water would be a relaxing experience, aside from the challenge portion, after all. "I'll go, too," the Swoobat chirped enthusiastically.

"Wait, what _is_ the challenge anyway?" Connor queried, a bit annoyed that they weren't filled in or woken up earlier. "And if you guys already had things covered… Why bring us out?"

"We aren't going to let you guys ruin your chances," Shine replied. "You're actually of use to us, so getting yourself automatically eliminated from being absent isn't in our best interest."

"Wait… That thing Victini told the other team is still in effect?!" Connor replied in shock.

Ashton let out a sigh, "Apparently so…"

Connor groaned, "Great…"

"Taylor! Wake up, you've got a job to do," Amethyst stated, shaking him a bit. She only got a dopey giggle out of him as a response.

Amethyst sighed before turning to Connor. "Connor, your boyfriend isn't getting up."

The Bouffalant chuckled sheepishly, a blush on his face. "Well, uh… That's probably my fault. Last night was uh… _Really_ intimate."

Sola gave him a look, "And by that, you mean you fucked his brains out…"

Connor blinked, "Yes…"

Upon hearing that, Shine groaned, "Well that's perfect…"

"Actually, it _really_ is," Carson chimed in. "It means that he won't protest to anything since he's still contained in his… Afterglow, I think that's what it's called."

"I'm more surprised that you actually knew the context of that," Morgan stated. "But, you have a point. We can just stuff him into the box. However, we still need one or two more people to agree to go out to sea."

Amethyst shrugged, "I'll just go so we don't waste more time."

Morgan still didn't think she had much to offer, but she didn't really have any complaints, either. And then again, it was just a ride, not much to it. She sighed, "Fine."

"Okay, so we're all good?" Sola queried, looking around. Seeing that no one else was saying anything, she nodded to herself.

 **000**

The contestants all turned their attention back to the hosts, coming back over. Seeing them, Xerneas cleared her throat, "Alright, we can see that you guys are done. So, who from each team is going into the water box?"

Anthony rose his hand, eliciting a nod from Mew. Virizion turned to the Lugias, seeing that a majority of them were looking at each other. She rose a brow, "Lugias? Have you chosen?"

Shine glanced over at Taylor, who was still unconscious, "Uh… Yes, but uh…"

"We choose Taylor, but Connor long-donged him last night, and he's still out of it," Sola explained. "Are we allowed to just shove him into the box?"

Mew held his head upon hearing that, while the girls blushed and exchanged looks before looking over to the still unconscious Milotic. Virizion sputtered, "U-Uh… I don't-I don't-"

Mew let out a sigh, growing annoyed at the explicitness he's been exposed to just in this one day, Usually, this was a bit more prominent with Victini. "Yes, he's still a part of your team, so feel free to do that."

"Okay, great," Morgan nodded.

The fairy-type Legendary spoke up, "And who's going out for the challenge?"

Aura, Aspen, Cramad, Marion, and Klavier stepped forward for the Ho-Ohs; Ace, Sally, Holly, Sola, and Amethyst stepped forward for the Lugias.

Nodding in approval, Xerneas started walking toward the dock, "Alright, the ten of you, come with me."

The ten participants followed the large doe toward the site of the season's eliminations. Watching her go, Virizion turned back to the remaining contestants. The hot sun continued beaming down as the challenge steps were taken.

Virizion maintained, "Alright, Anthony and Taylor, you guys need to get into the boxes."

Anthony acquiesced, as he walked toward the transparent boxes "Whatever. It's better than being out in the heat."

Morgan deadpanned, "Meanwhile, we have to literally drag-" She looked down, only to see that Taylor was no longer lying on the ground. Confused, she glanced over to the boxes saw that Taylor was being levitated by Carson and placed into the right box.

She blinked, "Huh. Guess we don't have to worry about him after all."

Anthony entered the box on the left side and closed the door, keeping him inside. Mew floated over with a couple of locks. He placed each of them on a door, locking them inside.

Anthony sighed to himself, folding his arms as he waited for the challenge to begin. He looked to his left and saw that Taylor was still unconscious. "Jeez, Bouffalant boy must have _really_ done a number on him if he's still knocked out. Mother of Arceus, why did the image of the two of them screwing just pop into my head?"

 **-000-**

Mew floated back over, dusting off his hands, "Okay. Now, the rest of you can just chill here until the challenge is over. One of you will have to act as the person who unlocks your teammate from the box."

Shine sighed deadpanned, "So we have to sit here in the horrid heat until the challenge is over?"

Virizion rose a brow before hinting, "Uh… You guys realize that there's still water on the beach, and the wind is kicking up a tad bit, right?"

Nobody replied, as they only exchanged glances.

"Are we allowed to leave at all?" Kojo queried, folding his arms with a huff.

Mew shook his head, "Nah, no one leaves until the challenge is done. However, we'll have Tyson and Colton provide some snacks."

He took out a walkie-talkie, preparing to call the couple down to the beach. As he did so, a familiar Typhlosion walked down to the beach, rubbing her eyes with a yawn. Summer ended up waking up after a while, having felt cold in the cabin and noticing that Kojo was no longer against her.

Figuring that he had just gone to the bathroom, she decided to walk around outside for a bit. She noticed that others were on the beach and walked toward the sandy area in order to check out the scene. However, she didn't know about the challenge, so she was pulled to the side by Marie.

"Summer, what took you so long?"

"What?" the Typhlosion queried in confusion before seeing Mew talking on a walkie-talkie, with Virizion next to him, listening on, annoyed. "Oh… Crap. Challenge time already."

"Yeah…" Lassie said flatly. "We understand that you just got engaged, but you've still gotta focus on the competition."

Summer gave her a knowing look, but decided not to respond to her. Instead, she turned back to Marie with a soft groan, "What's the challenge?"

Marie pointed out to sea, "Five of us have to go out to the ocean on a boat and pop balloons until we're able to find a key that unlocks Anthony." She pointed to the two boxes that Taylor and Anthony are in upon mentioning them.

Summer nodded, "And… Where are the others?"

"The challenge setup is already done," Titan explained.

Summer folded her arms, "Okay, so why are we still here? Other than the unlocking part?"

"No one can leave until the challenge is over," Morgan said, walking over, a few others in tow.

Upon hearing that news, Summer groaned in annoyance, "Great…"

"Well… At least we get snacks," Carson chimed in, attempting to lighten the mood.

Everyone, excluding Ashton, stared at him with unamused eyes. This caused him to sweatdrop and let out a sigh.

 **000**

After articulating their goal with the challenge, Xerneas concluded, "Okay, you guys understand what your goal is, right?"

"So, just pop the balloons until we find the right key," Klavier recapped.

"And you guys _actually_ put a key in almost _every_ balloon to increase the difficulty," Aura followed with an unenthused expression.

"We can pick up multiple keys at a time, but we're allowed to drive back to shore and pass off keys to the others. _And_ we're allowed to fire at each other in order to slow down progression and possibly make each other lose keys," Sola finished.

"In regards to that," Marion started. "What happens if we lose a key and it's the one that we need?"

The fairy-type cleared her throat, "If that happens, your _extra_ teammates can swim down to retrieve it."

"Huh… So there actually _was_ a purpose of having more than two people," Sally marveled.

"Yes," Xerneas responded with a nod. "Now, get into your boats and we can begin the challenge."

As the deer walked away, the ten players entered their self-proclaimed team boats. Doing so, a bit of banter was had between the participants.

"I see that you're having the cream-filled twink drive," Aura giggled. "Better hope those ribbons of his hold onto the wheel as tight as he holds onto my son's headboard."

Ace glowered at her, still holding a bit of resentment toward her despite her change. He knew that it was only a joke at that point, but he decided to get even. "And I see that you're manning the bean shooter. I guess we already win in that case. You can't make anything _really_ shoot off to save your life."

Aura rolled her eyes, while Aspen decided to speak up, "At least _we're_ not relying on the same people for nearly every challenge. How many times have Kojo and Sally been used since you're too scared to let anyone else do something?"

Sally scoffed, "Scared? Please. It's common sense. Kojo and I are the only ones that are able to stand on two legs for extended periods, _and_ grab things with no issue."

"And yet Aura is grabbing onto the shooter triggers just fine," Marion countered, gesturing to the Glaceon, who was sitting while holding the controls to the large vulcan like weapon.

"Well, we'll see how well that decision serves you," Sola huffed.

 **-000-**

Xerneas made it back to the others, leading to Mew taking out a megaphone and turning toward the dock. "Alright contestants! Remember, the first team to find the right key and unlock their teammate wins! In three... Two… One… GO!"

 **000**

Immediately, both boats began speeding forward, with Klavier using his tail to hit the gas, and Ace using another one of his ribbons.

Almost instantly, the red bulbs that were on each bean shooter illuminated, signifying that they were activated. Aura smirked to herself, deciding to draw first blood by firing at the Lugias' boat. Numerous beans shot in rapid progression, striking the sides of the Lugias' boat, as well as a few of them.

Ace growled, turning the boat away from the Ho-Ohs in order to avoid more pelting from Aura. Seeing them heading in another direction, Aura smirked to herself.

Marion groaned, "Aura! You just wasted a ton of beans trying to fire at them!"

Aura shrugged in response, satisfied with what she'd done. "They said that we could fire at them, so I did."

"But that doesn't mean-"

Cramad suddenly interrupted, as she watched where Klavier was taking them,"Hey! We're approaching a buoy with a balloon on it, get ready to fire at it!"

Aura immediately aimed the weapon at the balloon, firing numerous rounds at it. The balloon burst, dropping a key on the top of the buoy. Klavier slowed down in order for one of the girls to grab it. Marion did the honors, procuring their first key before Klavier drove off.

The Banette cheered, "We got one!"

Aspen, despite being enthused, didn't want to cheer too early, "Don't celebrate too early, there are still a ton of balloons left and we don't even know if this is the right key."

"Hey guys, do we want to go back to shore and drop off this key?" Klavier queried as he drove toward another buoy.

Aspen demurred, "No way! We need to have more than just one. It saves us a lot of time and effort."

Klavier nodded in understanding before pulling up to the next buoy.

 **000**

"That fucking bitch…" Ace grumbled to himself. "I hope she knows that bringing up my reaction to Chase just means that he's great at what he does. Fucking firing at us…"

The others, hearing the Sylveon grumbling, realized that they were actually moving off course. They had only procured two keys before they shifted direction.

"Uh, Ace! We're going off course!" Holly exclaimed.

Ace snapped out of his daze, as he began spitefully daydreaming himself being pleased by Chase while Aura had to watch.

"Oh crap!" he exclaimed as he realized that he had driven them far off course and away from the other balloons. He turned that wheel to the left in order to bring them back toward the challenge site.

Amethyst rose a brow at his behavior, "You feeling okay?"

Ace let out a sigh in response, "I guess I let what Aura said get under my skin. She always hated when Chase and I made out or had sex, so I guess hearing her joke about it now, like everything is okay, annoys me."

Sola nodded, "Ah, you don't believe that she's really changed."

Ace shook his head, "People don't really change. And I refuse to believe that a show as toxic as this can turn someone who was a bitch back to a decent person."

"I mean, Solis, Vile, Hope, and Carman all changed for the better," Sola responded. "Sure they're still the same extreme strategists, but as people, their attitudes and demeanors have really changed."

"Even Amy, Taylor and Connor have changed," Holly responded as the boat started slowing down a bit.

Sally, who was focusing on blasting balloons that they passed by, groaned. She had popped give balloons, but the conversation was distracting Ace from stopping the boat.

The Ampharos got their attention, "Guys! As interesting as that conversation probably is, we need to focus. I popped five balloons and Ace just drove right past them!"

"What?!" Ace exclaimed in shock, turning back to her. He immediately turned the wheel again, bumping into another buoy on the way.

Sally fired at the balloon on the buoy, popping it. Holly flew up to retrieve the key.

"Well, that's three keys," Amethyst realized. "We can go head back to shore."

Sally scoffed, "And risk the other team taking our keys? No way! We need to get those keys and _then_ take them to shore."

Sola nodded, "That sounds good. Ace, turn back arou-"

Suddenly, numerous beans were fired in their direction as the Ho-Ohs drove by them, in the direction of one of the buoys they had passed by.

"No!" Sally exclaimed. "Ace, hurry!"

Realization suddenly hit Amethyst, "Wait, Holly can fly! She can get the keys and bring them back! They didn't say anything about flying being prohibited."

"You're right!" Sola concurred, turning to the Swoobat. "Hol-"

The Courting Pokemon already knew what to do, as she flew toward the other buoys. She was excited that she was actually doing something worthwhile for the team. She approached the nearest buoy, picking up one of the keys that was left there.

She noticed that the Ho-Oh's boat was circling back around, as Marion grabbed the keys that were left behind by Sally's popping. She was only able to procure one before noticing Aura pointing the bean shooter in her direction.

She gasped before swiftly flying back toward the Lugias' boat. She returned just as Ace pointed the boat in another direction. She landed with one key and groaned. "They got all of the other ones…"

"Shit, that's right, they have Marion…." Sally growled. "Ace! Head straight to shore."

"On it!" Ace acquiesced as he drove back to shore.

 **000**

While they waited for their teammates out in the water to return, the contestants enjoyed ice cream, popsicles, and cold beverages, courtesy of Colton and Tyson. During that time, they also decided to converse with each other normally, as things were becoming much more calm around the island.

"Huh, well good to hear that you guys aren't trying to jump into things so quickly," Morgan purred as she bit into a Drumstick Cone. "It does take time. But, at least you guys have a plan."

"I just don't see why you agreed to get married if both of you knew that it wasn't the time," Shine chimed in, befuddled. "Relationships go through many trying times, so making this big of a commitment earlier on may lead to disaster."

"Shine, out of curiosity, how long did it take for Shade to ask you to marry him?" Lassie queried.

The Espeon rose a brow at the question, "A little over two years. Why?"

The Froslass nodded before asking another question, "And how were those trying times for you?"

The Sun Pokemon groaned silently to herself, "Is this going to go anywhere? All I'm saying is that it's strange to become engaged, but decide to hold off the actual marriage until you feel that enough time has passed."

"Hmm, to be fair, Shine has a point," Carson contributed.

"We've already discussed it," Kojo replied. "So, we're not really gonna talk about it further."

Marie shrugged, "Fair enough."

She noticed the boats approaching the shore and rose to her feet, hurrying toward the beach. Ashton did the same, not wanting to give the other team a head start.

The Lugias' boat arrived first. Sola immediately handed over the keys to Ashton as Ace immediately drove back out to sea. Ashton immediately rushed over to the boxes, while the Feraligatr impatiently tapped her foot.

Marie growled as their team's boat approached shortly after. However, this was fine, as she noticed that they had seven keys with them.

"Hey Marie. We got a bunch of keys for- Hey! I want ice cream!" Marion exclaimed, noticing the frozen delicacies being consumed by the others.

Marie took the keys from her, "You'll get some when the challenge is done."

Klavier turned the boat and started driving back out on the open water. Marie rushed toward the boxes, which she saw that the water inside of the boxes was just at Anthony's ankles. She looked to her right and saw that Ashton was on her last key already.

She started with her own first key. She inserted it into the lock, but it didn't turn, signifying that it didn't work. This happened for the three keys after, but as she saw Ashton retreating back to the others, a thought entered her head. She eyed the keys that Ashton used and picked them up before deciding to try them out herself. It wasn't against the rules, anyway.

"Huh. Nice thinking," Anthony commended, eliciting a small smile from the Feraligatr.

She fumbled a bit with the keys before trying the first new one. It didn't unlock it, so she moved on to the next ones. After using them all, she growled and threw them back down. "Fuck!"

"Hey, hey, hey. Remember, this is just water, babe," Anthony reminded her. "Even if we lose, we can just take out Cramad. She's pretty expendable anyway."

Marie sighed as she tried the remaining keys in her hands, "I get that, but I think that Fez would be the better choice. He's already not here and he's shown to be a bit weaker than most."

Anthony shrugged in agreement as Marie sighed and dropped the remaining keys, "Nothing."

Anthony smacked his lips, folding his arms, "Well, go and enjoy _your_ ice cream and soda…"

Marie smirked at him, "Oh don't worry, I will…"

Anthony rolled his eyes as he watched his girlfriend head back toward the others. His eyes immediately went to her rump, and he sighed as he rested his head against the back of the box. He took a few steps in the box, with the water splashing around inside.

He couldn't help but think about what he and Marie spoke about earlier. The idea of having a child made him nervous. In fact, he figured that he'd never have to deal with this due to his personality. He was intelligent, but also very sarcastic and a smartass when he wanted to be. He didn't think that he'd be able to get this far into a relationship, or even have one in the first place, to consider this.

Looking at Marie as she sat with the others, he couldn't help but hold his chest momentarily, feeling his heart beating a bit faster. He let out a breath, "You're okay, Ant. Just keep yourself cool. She likes you, and you like her, and she may be pregnant. No pressure…"

A few seconds later, he twitched before resting his head on the front of the box, "Okay, no. Fuck that, there's a ton of pressure."

 **000**

"WILL YOU STOP FIRING AT US, ALREADY!?" Sola shouted as both boats were side-by-side.

Sally didn't want to waste beans, while Aura didn't seem to have a problem with continuously firing at them. Soon enough, though, the bean shooter stopped firing, the red bulb blinking.

"What the-" the Glaceon started before banging on the weapon. This allowed the Lugias to escape the onslaught and carry on.

Their misfortune was immediately called out by the other team.

"Aww… Looks like you wasted all of your beans by being a bitch!" Amethyst teased as they headed away, with Sally popping another balloon.

Cramad groaned, "Damn it, Aura! You wasted all of our beans!"

Aura rolled her eyes, "There are more beans at the dock. Calm down."

"Aura, we're losing time now, calming down is _not_ something that needs to happen right now," Marion responded flatly.

"Klavier, drive us back to the dock," Aspen directed. "We've gotta reload."

Klavier nodded and began turning the boat back toward the dock, with Aura watching in disappointment as the Lugias continued popping the balloons and retrieving keys.

Cramad just shook her head in annoyance, but realized that now was the right time to talk to them.

"Well, while were getting more beans, we should talk about what Annie meant last night," she brought up.

Immediately, Aura and Aspen glared at the Parasect, not wanting to hear what she was about to say.

"How about we don't and we just focus on the challenge," the Furfrou retorted, holding her agitated expression.

Expecting this response from them, Cramad explained, "I'm talking about the favoritism thing, calm down."

Aura groaned, "Cramad, we just got rid of one annoyance that kept trying to shove those ideas down our throats. We don't care. Nobody gives a flying fuck about whether or not-"

Klavier decided to chime in, albeit flatly, cutting off the Glaceon, "This is a competition. Things like that are going to happen whether you like it or not. Bringing this up to try to make a case isn't going to change anything. Everyone's morality and common sense becomes questionable when a big prize is on the line and there are numerous other contenders, so all this talk about uselessness and favoritism is pointless. So can we just stop talking about it completely? Please?"

Everyone stared at him in shock, not expecting that out of him.

"See, even Klavier is tired of hearing that bullshit!" Aspen followed up. "What does someone being useless have to do with you and why does it even need to be brought up?"

Cramad opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Aura, "It doesn't have to be, because it doesn't affect anyone pe-"

"QUIET!" Marion exclaimed, calming everyone down. "Jeez. This conversation is literally getting nowhere, so let's just drop it. This game has been going on for years and people have played it how they wanted to. This season is no exception. Favoritism, cheating, lying, targeting, all of that has happened ever since this game started, so just… End it."

Everyone remained silent as they eventually made it back to the dock. Marion picked up a bag of black beans before tossing it into the boat. She decided to take another one just in case Aura went crazy again.

 **000**

"And… Key number four," Holly said as she retrieved the fourth key. "This is going great so far."

"I agree, but we can't be too confident. They could come back and destroy us completely," Sola replied. "Let's hope that one of these keys is it."

"Back to the shore?" Ace queried, looking back to them.

"Yep," Amethyst replied.

With a nod, Ace started driving them back toward the shore. On the way, a bit of conversation was had. "So, Amethyst, out of curiosity, have you ever let Sven get _close_?"

Amethyst immediately blushed before stuttering, "Uh, I-I-I prefer not to talk about my personal life in that fashion. Please…"

Sola nodded in understanding, "Okay. Sorry."

Sally decided to fire at another buoy with a balloon above it. Holly flew over to it and picked up the released key before flying back to the boat.

The Swoobat let out a breath, "Key number five."

"Nice work Holly. We're almost there," Sola responded as Ace drove them all closer to shore. Suddenly, they felt a bump, startling them.

Amethyst fretted, "Whoa, w-what the heck was that?"

"Probably just some rocks," Sally shrugged.

Another bump shook the boat, this time in a much more intense manner. Sola growled to herself before looking on the sides of the boat. She caught a glimpse of a blackish-blue fin as it surfaced and receded back into the water. She paled.

 **000**

" **SHARPEDO!? SERIOUSLY!?" Sola blustered.**

 **000**

Sally expressed her discontent, "Oh come on! They didn't even mention Sharpedo!"

The Ampharos brazenly stood up in the seat and fired a beam of yellow electricity at the sky. This created an electric cloud that rotated over the ocean. Numerous bolts of electricity fired down into the water, electrifying it.

Ace reached the shore, with Morgan and Shine being the ones to retrieve the keys this time. The participants turned to their hosts in anger.

"There's Sharpedo out there!" Amethyst protested.

Virizion and Xerneas immediately turned to Mew, who was confused as to why all eyes were on him all of a sudden. "What? I can't control nature!"

"Yes you can, you're a psychic-type!" Ace argued.

Mew blinked, "Guys, just because I'm much better than Victini doesn't mean that I'm gonna be able to _completely_ keep you out of danger. Plus, I'm pretty sure you guys are strong enough to handle it. Sally's an electric-type and Ace is a fairy-type."

Unsatisfied with that response, the boat just went back out to open water. Mew groaned, "I hate my life…"

The girls looked at him sincerely before Xerneas spoke up, "Mew, you can't please everyone. Plus, how were you supposed to know that Sharpedo would be in the water?"

Mew shook his head, "That's not the point. They see me as some almighty savior compared to Victini, and that makes this even more difficult for me because _now_ if there's any danger, they'll probably start comparing me to him like they practically did earlier."

"Aw, it'll be okay, hon," Virizion said, nuzzling him. "Just be glad that they prefer you overall."

Mew sighed in depression, "I guess."

The girls exchanged worried looks.

 **000**

" **I really hope that Mew starts feeling better," Xerneas started. "We don't need another Solgaleo situation."**

 **000**

Morgan and Shine returned to the group, as all five keys failed to open the lock.

"Arceus, I wish this challenge was over already," Titan groaned. "It's still hot and sitting on the sand isn't helping anything."

In response, a jet of water was blasted on him, soaking him from head to leg. He deadpanned, "Thanks for that…"

The perpetrator, Marie, shrugged, "What? You were complaining about the heat, so I cooled you off."

The Galvantula grumbled to himself as the girls giggled at his situation. Amidst the laughter, Ashton decided to break the ice and propose a question, "So, what're everyone's plans after this season?"

The contestants exchanged looks of unsurety and stayed silent for a while before Shine spoke up, "Well, that depends on how this season fares. If I end up winning, most of it is just going to bills and maybe a few vacations. But if not, nothing's really gonna change for me."

Morgan nodded in affirmation, "Same here, I suppose. With Hex's part-time job, and the royalty checks from the show, the money would go straight to bills, groceries, and the like. But, I wouldn't be bothered that much if it wasn't the case."

"I'd probably go back and visit Australia. Thought about it for a while, so I might as well act on it now that I've got the funds for it," Titan explained.

"Yeah, now that you bring it up, Titan… How are you here? There's no Australia in our world, as far as I know," Connor spoke.

This led to everyone staring at Titan for a bit. The EleSpider Pokemon sweatdropped, knowing that he'd have to explain himself. "Okay, here's the thing. I'm from Oblivia. Some of us there just call it Australia due to the fact that there's a bunch of legends, dangerous ruins, dangerous places around there in general, and once in a blue moon one of the legendaries would could down for a visit."

"Huh… I guess that makes sense," Carson replied. "Still kinda weird, though."

"Well, what about you, then?" Titan deflected.

Carson, being put on the spot, suddenly started stammering, "Uh, um, you, I, that… Uh… I don't know."

"It took you that long to come up with _that_?" Summer deadpanned.

Carson blushed, looking down in embarrassment. "Well what about the rest of you?" he countered, wanting eyes off of him.

"Dumping Floatzelle, hopefully keep my career afloat amidst the backlash I get, and just live my life normally with my girl," Kojo replied, lying his head in Summer's lap.

Sumner giggled, rubbing his head, "Yeah, we'll probably move in together somewhere down the line."

Marie huffed, rolling her eyes, "Obviously."

Summer gave her a look, "And what about you Mrs. Anthony? What are you and Anthony planning if you guys don't win?"

Marie shrugged, "Our relationship isn't really 100% right now, at most it's at 72% so we're probably gonna stay on steady terms for a while."

Shine rose a brow at this, as what she recalled last night proved differently. "Are you sure? I mean, you two snuck off last night to go into the woods. I would think that _something_ happened that'd elevate that percentage."

Marie blinked, a blush appearing on her face. Maybe Shine knew whether or not something happened. "Everything's a blur," she replied. "Do _you_ know if anything happened between us? Because, we're pretty confused."

Titan chortled, "Well, I did recall hearing some moaning from the woods, so you two probably _did_ have some fun."

Marie twitched, turning back to Anthony, who was holding his head in thought. She took a breath, "Okay…"

She rose up, walking back toward the boxes, while the others exchanged looks of confusion. Marie approached the box, gazing solemnly at the Blastoise inside. Noticing her expression, he rose a brow.

"What's up, babe?" he asked.

Marie leaned against the box with a sigh. "Well, according to Titan, he heard some noises from the forest, so we more than likely had sex."

Anthony sighed, "Figured as much. But my point still stands; I'll be there if you need me to be."

Marie giggled, "Y'know, I'll be honest. You're the last person that I thought I'd be talking about this with. But, since we've been together… You've grown, and I'm actually looking forward to it, if the case is the same."

"Well, I'll be honest, too. I didn't think we'd even make it this far. But, we've grown accustomed to each other and I've come to admire you a lot more," Anthony admitted with a small smile.

Marie smiled back, with the two staring at each other lovingly for a while. Their loving expressions were cut off by another voice.

"What the hell is going on, here?!"

The couple turned to see that Taylor was now awake and realizing his situation. He turned to the two and growled, "Why the hell am I in a box?!"

"Oh, _now_ you're awake," Anthony replied, folding his arms agitatedly at the fact that he ruined their moment.

"Answer me, dammit!"

Marie groaned, "We're doing a challenge. Your team has to pop balloons and find a key that'll unlock you. And since you were still unconscious from your fun time with Connor, your team decided to put you in."

Taylor twitched and began to sweat a bit as the water continued to rise, "I-I'm sorry, b-but can you please get Connor over here for me?"

Marie rose a brow, making Taylor growl, "NOW!"

"Alright, alright, jeez," the Feraligatr acquiesced as she started walking back to the others.

Anthony narrowed his eyes at the Milotic, "What the hell's _your_ problem?"

"I'm not good with tight spaces, you fuck!" Taylor snapped. "I can't be in here! I-I just can't!."

"You're claustrophobic?" Anthony queried, raising a brow. "Didn't your team have to live in a cave and go down pits in your first season?"

Taylor twitched, beginning to tremble as the water continued to rise. "Do _not_ remind me; I had to hold it together and try not to piss myself when we went down that fucking pit. And for your information, our cave was actually larger and wasn't completely enclosed!"

Anthony rolled his eyes as Connor approached the two. The Bouffalant had a sheepish look on his face, while Taylor was still trembling a bit. Noticing this, he grew concerned, "Whoa, what's the matter?"

The Blastoise decided to speak up, "Your boyfriend's claustrophobic, dude."

Connor paled immediately before turning to Taylor, "Shit… Fuck, babe. I'm sorry, I didn't know! We chose you for this because you're the only water-type and we thought that you'd be fine!"

Taylor only let out a whimper as he tried to move, and while he succeeded, he didn't go anywhere, as his body only coiled in the box.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out!" Connor affirmed as he rushed back to the others.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs were riding in silence as Aura continued popping the balloons. Marion retrieved each one and kept it on her. So far, they had six more keys and were approaching another balloon for their seventh one.

Just then, a bump rocked their boat, causing one of them to speak up.

"Anyone else feel that?" Aspen queried, looking around.

Cramad shrugged, "Yeah. It was probably a rock or something."

The idea of it just being a simple stone was a bit far-fetched, as they were nowhere near the land, but being as there wasn't any other real explanation, they went along with it. However, a few moments later, the real cause came to light.

"Uh… Well, I don't think that it was a rock earlier…" Klavier trailed off, staring fearfully out at the water.

"What makes you think that?" Aura queried before looking out as well and paling. "Wait, are those-"

"SHARPEDO!" Klavier exclaimed as the Brutal Pokemon began bumping into their boat. Jumping over and grinding it in an attempt to sink it.

"Fuck!" Aura exclaimed as she started attempting to fire at the Sharpedo. The beans didn't do anything to the shark-like Pokemon, In fact, it seemed to make them even angrier.

One of the Sharpedo took a large chomp out of the side of the boat, startling the girls as the boat began to sink.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Aspen exclaimed as their boat sank.

The Sharpedo surrounded the five of them, immediately making them huddle together. Marion took a breath, "Guys, I have an idea on how to get them away, but you may not like it."

"JUST DO IT!" Aura exclaimed.

The Banette unleashed a beam of electricity, shocking everything around her. Klavier, being part ground-type, remained unaffected. The Sharpedo immediately swam away, leaving Aura, Aspen, and Cramad paralyzed, but relieved.

"Well, that worked," Klavier replied. "But now we don't have a boat."

" _And_ we lost our keys," Cramad added.

Aspen sighed, "Well great. Now we're screwed."

"Not necessarily," Marion spoke. "I'll handle getting the keys back."

The Banette immediately dove underwater, leaving the rest of them to gaze at each other in wait.

 **000**

Sally was still firing beans at balloons until, eventually, like the Ho-Ohs, she ran out. "Crud… We're out of beans, guys."

"Well, we've got five more keys, anyway, let's just go back and see if these work. Then, even if they don't we can try the other team's keys. They never said that we couldn't," Sola shrugged.

The other Lugias shrugged, not minding the idea. Ace drove them all back toward the shore, with a few unwanted guests following close behind.

"Uh, Ace, the Sharpedo are back!" Holly called. "May wanna pick up the pace!"

Ace growled, pressing the pedal harder, speeding forward. Eventually, they made it to shore. They jumped out swiftly as the Sharpedo proceeded to mercilessly tear the boat apart.

The five contestants stared at the hosts, but didn't utter a word. Instead, they went toward the boxes, where they saw that Taylor was awake and twitching like mad. Even more disturbing was the fact that the water in _his_ box had a yellowish tint to it.

Seeing this, they grew concerned, especially seeing that Connor was trying his best to calm him down.

"Guys, hurry up!" Connor exclaimed.

"What's the matter?" Holly queried, seeing the redness of Taylor's eyes.

"He's got claustrophobia _really_ bad," Connor explained. "We need to get him out of there, NOW!"

"For the love of- This isn't good!" Sally exclaimed as she fumbled with the keys. She picked up one of them and shoved it into the keyhole of the lock. Seeing that it didn't work, she immediately tossed it, while Sola rushed to get Mew, Virizion, and Xerneas.

"Taylor, say something!"

Taylor didn't say anything, tears continuing to stream from his eyes as the water filled the box more than halfway. The Milotic's eyes didn't even blink, almost like he was in a trance.

Eventually, using the second key, the lock opened, allowing them to open it and free the Tender Pokemon. The stench of urine filled the air briefly as the water poured out of the box. Even then, Taylor didn't move. Connor grew concerned as the hosts came over, along with the others.

"Can someone do something?!" the Bouffalant exclaimed.

Shine's eyes glowed blue as an aura surrounded Taylor. She removed him from the box and placed him into the water, a distance away from the Sharpedo. He sank momentarily, completely submerging before rising back up abruptly with a sharp gasp for air.

He coughed and sniffled as he looked back to shore. Connor immediately rushed to him, nuzzling him. "Mother of Arceus, I'm glad you're okay. Tonight, we're having a long talk..."

Taylor was panting, still trying to get air into his lungs. He began sobbing, coiling around Connor, who nuzzled him back in comfort.

 **000**

 **Taylor took a deep breath. "I hated that… I hated that** _ **so**_ **much. I wish they would've woken me up before just throwing me in there. I can't believe I pissed myself and cried like that! I just… I don't know anymore!"**

 **000**

"Well, today certainly was a poor experience for those of you who participated," Mew began. "And my apologies for that. The next challenge should be a bit better, hopefully."

"But regardless, Ho-Ohs, since you didn't get Anthony out in time, you'll be heading to elimination," Xerneas said.

The Ho-Ohs exchanged looks as Aura, Aspen, Klavier, and Cramad finally made it to shore, panting and soaking wet. Soon enough, Marion floated in front of them with three of their keys.

"Challenge is already over," Virizion called, causing them to groan.

 **000**

The Ho-Ohs sat at the elimination ceremony, annoyed at their third consecutive loss. _Again_.

"Well, this is certainly an unlucky streak for you guys," Virizion acknowledged. "But, we've got to keep this going."

 **000**

 **Cramad giggled. "Well, I was able to talk to Anthony and Marion about their favoritism and how it makes it feel like they're not being fair."**

 **000**

" _Ugh, fine, Cramad," Marie replied, sitting it Anthony's lap as they sat on the beach. "We'll try to take care of it."_

 _Cramad blinked. "Wait, r-really!?"_

" _Annie's been bitching about it, and you hardly ever speak out about anything, so it must be something serious," Anthony replied. "We'll talk to the others about it tomorrow or… Whenever they give us another challenge."_

 _Cramad nodded as she walked away from the couple. Once she was out of the vicinity, the Blastoise and Feraligatr exchanged knowing looks._

 **000**

" **I think it actually went well. So, I'm gonna vote for Phill to get him out of the way. He seems to be most capable of making it far by doing nothing. Hopefully the others do the same."**

 **000**

Mew opened a new bag of marshmallows, taking a couple into his paw. "Anthony, Marie, Summer, Klavier. You guys are safe."

The four of them caught their marshmallows with smiles.

"Marion, Titan, Lassie, Aspen, and Aura, you're safe as well," Mew continued, tossing them their marshmallows as well. "This leaves Phill, Cramad, and Fez."

"What!?" Cramad bellowed, confused as to why she was in the bottom.

"The next one safe is… Fez," Virizion announced as Mew tossed the bird his marshmallow.

The Unfezant sighed in relief. Phill sighed to himself, while Cramad was still surprised.

"Phill, Cramad, one of you is going home tonight, and that person is…

…

…

...

…

…

…

...Cramad."

Phill cheered, "Woo-hoo!"

Cramad was astonished. How did she get voted out if they agreed with her? She turned to the others, "W-Why?"

"Seriously guys?" Titan deadpanned.

"Cramad, we just got rid of Annie for spewing the same thing you were talking about today," Anthony stated. "What in your right mind made you think that bringing that shit up would make a difference if it already got someone else eliminated?"

"I wasn't forcing it down your throat!" the Parasect explained. "And you guys said that you'd talk to everyone else about it."

"Yeah, sorry. We lied," Anthony continued.

Cramad looked down, with Titan sighing to himself.

"Cramad, it's time for you to go," Mew said.

The Parasect walked toward the dock, with Titan following her in silence. The other Ho-Ohs decided to leave, with Marion holding a small smirk.

 **000**

 **Marion dusted off her hands, "Well, that's taken care of. I'd go for Titan, but he's actually pretty chill and more useful. So, I guess I'm just gonna keep myself safe."**

 **000**

"I can't believe they voted for me because I was talking about-"

"Babe, it was pretty obvious," Titan cut her off. "If Annie got on their nerves with that information, it was obvious that the same subject was going to annoy them as well."

Cramad bleated, "Well, why didn't you tell me?! I thought you wanted to protect me, here."

"Two reasons," Titan responded. "One, I was drunk out of my mind this morning and didn't really know and two, you told me that you wanted to be independent, that you could handle things on your own. I warned you about things getting ruthless."

Recalling that, Cramad sighed. "Well, I guess that was my fault, then."

Titan chuckled, "Nah, it's fine, Sheila. Just go on home and have your fun."

Cramad rolled his eyes. "Fine, but at least try to win…"

She kissed his cheek as she walked toward the elimination device. Entering it, she waved a pincer at him goodbye as Mew pressed the button, sending her down. Titan took a deep breath before chuckling, "Well, this should be a bit more interesting now."

He started walking back toward the Winner's Cabin, while the hosts exchanged looks of wonder.

"Hmm, I wonder what he means by _that_ ," Virizion said, raising a brow.

Xerneas shrugged, "Probably nothing. Thinking out loud."

Mew sighed, "I just hope that things start looking up again, because this season is just making me hate my life more and more…"

The New Species Pokemon teleported away, leaving the two girls shocked. Virizion turned to the Life Pokemon. "Should we be concerned?"

"Of course! We've already got Solgaleo in a slump, we don't need Mew in one, too," Xerneas replied. "We've gotta do something to make him feel better."

"Like what?"

"Hmm…"

 **000**

 **And there it is. Cramad gets eliminated and a bit more information surfaces about a couple other contestants. However, this chap seems very lackluster, in my opinion, but oh well. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


	22. Grasp the Meddle

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, the contestants were still left dazed and confused from the celebration of Kojo and Summer's engagement. Many things were lost, from brain cells, to innocence, to appetite. It appeared that Anthony and Marie fornicated, meaning that she may or may not be with child, cause new emotions to wash over both of them. Cramad decided to implement Annie's regime in a more civilized manner, only to be shut down or countered by those she tried to explain it to. In the challenge, a race to pop balloons and collect keys to unlock boxed teammates, it was revealed that Taylor has a very bad case of claustrophobia. Gnarly. In the end, the Lugias were able to release their Milotic teammate, and the Ho-Ohs bid farewell to Cramad, whose attempt to mention what was already shut down blew up in her face.**

 **What will happen this time? Find out right now on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Titan let out a sigh of relaxation as he lied on a tree stump in the middle of the forest. Now that Cramad was gone, he didn't have to worry about keeping anyone safe but himself. And, after careful analysis of the game over the years, he thought that he had come up with a valid strategy all on his own.

As he unwinded on the stump, taking in the nature around him, footsteps approached him. He wasn't really concerned, but he he knew to be on guard in case any feral Pokemon attempted to attack him. He didn't have to worry about anything, though, as it was Clay who was approaching him.

The Sudowoodo rose a brow, "Titan, uh… You alright? You look like you're waiting to be snatched up."

Titan gave his friend a look, "I'm just trying to relax out here. Now I can focus on doing my own thing…"

Clay rose a brow as he sat against a nearby tree, curious as to what the Galvantula meant. "And what exactly _is_ your own thing?"

The EleSpider Pokemon looked at him before chuckling to himself. "It's nothing big, mate. Just gonna follow my instincts a lot more and do what I think will be the best."

Clay was confused, "You didn't do that with the girls around?"

Titan's pedipalps did a spreading motion, indicating a shrug. "The girls were the ones calling the shots mostly, you know. I was just going along with it."

Clay nodded in understanding, "Well, all I can say is _don't_ do what they did. People don't like hearing that they're doing something wrong, even if it _is_ true."

Titan got to his feet, "Don't worry, I don't care about that stuff. Thinking too much overcomplicates things and I prefer to keep things simple. Don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you."

Clay deadpanned, "Words to live by."

Titan shrugged off his sarcasm, "Eh, it's common sense, though. Agitating other people only causes harm for yourself down the line."

Clay shrugged, "Fair enough."

 **000**

" **I'm just gonna focus on myself and making it further in the game. It'll involve a methods that people don't like, but it's just strategy," Titan explained.**

 **000**

Due to Taylor's episode in the challenge prior, Morgan decided to call a team meeting inside of the Winner's Cabin so that no one else had to go through any other rough times during the challenges. The Persian took a breath as the others congregated in the living room.

The Classy Cat Pokemon cleared her throat, "Okay guys, I think that we really need to talk with each other in order to understand where we each are physically and mentally. That way, we don't have more situations like what happened with Taylor."

The Milotic grumbled to himself as a blush spread across his face, still embarrassed about the entire ordeal. Connor nuzzled him in comfort.

Kojo queried, "So, what are we doing? Just saying our strengths and weaknesses or something?"

Morgan tilted her head in slight uncertainty, "In a sense, but not entirely. All we need to do is address our fears and overall stability with regards to the challenges."

The others exchanged looks of concern and curiosity as the Persian continued to explain.

Morgan continued, looking around at them all, "So, if anyone else has any issues with specific actions or situations, please speak up."

Shine decided to chime in, "And it's in your best interest not to lie just to avoid challenges. Not saying that anyone here would, but _anything_ is a possibility."

The others remained silent for a while, making the Persian raise a brow in slight disbelief. She honestly thought that there would be a few outlandish claims. Morgan recapped, "So, we have Taylor's claustrophobia on record. Is there anything else? Or have I just wasted all of our time?"

Connor, seeing that no one was saying anything, decided to get something off of his chest. Clearing his throat, he disclosed, "Well, I honestly don't have a fondness for being tied up or used as bait or just anything that deals with being held hostage."

The others looked at him with understanding, yet unimpressed expressions, with Holly explaining, "Uh, Connor, honey. I think that's common for a lot of people."

The Bouffalant was chagrined upon hearing that, "Oh…"

Morgan let out a disappointed sigh, "Well, if there's nothing else, I guess this meeting was rather pointless."

Kojo shook his head, "Nah, it wasn't pointless. You're showing that you actually give a damn about us. That's all you can really ask for in this game."

The Persian smiled softly at the compliment as the group dispersed, leaving only her alliance mates. She took a breath before resting her head on the arms of the velvet couch. Sally expressed a look of worry, "You okay, Morgan?"

The Persian could only nod weakly in response. Her friends didn't buy the response, though. Ace, having a feeling that he knew what was wrong, used a ribbon to rub her side, "It'll be okay, Morgan. Maybe they were just embarrassed if they _did_ have issues."

Morgan responded, "Or maybe I just jumped the gun."

Sola, attempting to lighten the mood, spoke up, "Well, think of it this way. Since no one said anything, they don't have any reason to complain when we put them in certain challenges. Well, besides Connor, maybe."

"I really don't think that what he said really counts," Sally countered, folding her arms. "It's common sense to not want to be bait, a hostage, or tied up."

Ace rose a brow, "Actually, some people are into that kind of thing. I know that Chase is."

Not wanting to know more, Shine urged, "Okay, conversation shift. What do you think our best course of action is right now?"

Sally, in a hushed tone, suggested, "Move to a more _private_ vicinity, since everyone is still in the cabin for once."

Looking toward the hall leading to the rooms, the others nodded in agreement. Shine's eyes glowed as a blue aura surrounded each of them. They were teleported out of the cabin in an instant.

 **000**

Lassie and Marion sat at the gazebo chatting about what they would do if they won. While Lassie was more interested in that part alone, Marion seemed to be a bit more interested in helping her friend find a new love.

Lassie, growing a bit irritated at the Banette's insistence, set her straight. "Marion, can you stop? I'm not looking for anyone right now. I haven't even gotten an official divorce, yet."

Marion shrugged, "I know, but it's never too early to look for another one."

Lassie gave her a look, "If I just got out of a relationship, why would I want another one, let alone _think_ about getting in another one, so soon?"

The Marionette Pokemon looked up thoughtfully before looking back to her, "I don't know. Take your mind off of it?"

Lassie scoffed, "I don't see how being with _another_ guy will take my mind off of the one I'm divorcing. I'd literally be looking at everything he does so that he doesn't do the same shit that Egridos did.. I'd rather not deal with that."

Marion grew perplexed at her response, "Why wouldn't you just let it happen?"

Lassie glowered at her. "Marion, I'm not looking for anyone. I'd much rather work on me, myself, and I before bothering with another man. Plus, now that I have this experience with Egridos, my standards are a bit higher. I'm not just gonna be with any guy that walks up or shows interest."

"Uh… Hi there."

Jumping in surprise, the two ghost-type girls turned around to see a familiar Unfezant standing there. Lassie tightened her glare at the bird. Receiving this look, the Proud Pokemon swallowed his saliva in slight fear, recalling why she was giving him such a harsh glower.

"U-Um…"

Lassie's glare didn't deter, "What are you doing here?"

He sheepishly chuckled, "I just wanted to talk to you about the whole… Me trying to kiss you thing…"

Lassie growled softly, "Oh, you mean how it was disgusting, out of line, and practically sexual assault?"

Fez groaned, "I was drunk! And I feel bad about it, okay! I wouldn't want anything like that to happen to any of my loved ones, so I wouldn't purposely do it to you!"

Lassie huffed in annoyance, floating away from the gazebo to get away from the Unfezant, who sighed in disappointment. Marion, having remained silent the entire time, gave him a look of sympathy.

Getting an idea of why he acted that way, Marion queried, "Fez, do you like Lassie?"

The Proud Pokemon blushed, but his expression turned to one of disapproval. "No. She's made it crystal clear that she's not looking for another relationship, and she has no interest in me whatsoever."

Marion blinked, folding her arms, "Okay, that's how _she_ feels. Now, how do _you_ feel?"

Fez gave her a look, but as he thought about it, there _was_ something about her that he found attractive, and he already made it known to the Snow Land Pokemon when they chatted. "Well, she kinda cute, but the personality is what I really like about her. Mainly because it's the type of attitude I enjoy. Sassiness, brashness, courage, and indifference to what others think. Things like that."

A smile grew on Marion's face, "So, would you consider dating Lassie?"

Fez blinked, "Nope. She's cute and got the personality, but she currently hates me, has no interest, and honestly I don't even have interest. Sure, she's got the goods, but her vibe is just kind of… Weird to me. So, no, I wouldn't really bother."

Marion's smile faded, being replaced with an almost-frown. She sighed, "Okay. I guess I can understand that."

Fez took a breath, "Oh well. I attempted to make amends, but she left. Hopefully we'll be able to make up sooner or later."

The bird flew away, leaving the Banette alone at the gazebo. She sighed before deciding to leave the area and head back to the cabins.

 **000**

Sitting outside of the Loser Cabin, Marie and Summer watched as their men tossed a ball back and forth on the campgrounds. Summer noticed that Marie's eyes had a certain shimmer to them as she watched Anthony. A small smile grew on her face as she nudged her, getting her attention.

The Typhlosion teased, "You sure your relationship with Anthony just at 72%? Because the way you're looking at him certainly says otherwise."

Marie blushed. She still hadn't told anyone about their possible problem, as she felt that it would come as a major shock. However, given that Summer was her closest friend there, she felt that she needed to get it off of her chest, just so she wouldn't be surprised if it proves true.

With a deep breath, she stood up, looking down at her, "Can we talk for a minute?"

The Feraligatr entered the cabin, with Summer's eyes following her. The Volcano Pokemon giggled to herself, expecting to hear the Big Jaw Pokemon's contradicting, stammer-filled explanation. She stood up, heading into the girls' side of the cabin. Once she entered, Marie immediately closed the door and locked it.

Summer was confused by her actions. "Uh… Why did you lock the door?"

Marie let out a sigh as she sat on Summer's bunk. "I don't want to alarm anyone or change their view of me."

Hearing that caused a bit of concern on the Typhlosion's part. She sat down next to the Feraligatr, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Why would anyone's view of you change?"

Marie took a breath, "Because, I may or may not be pregnant with his child."

The Typhlosion's eyes widened as they trailed down to her stomach before going back to her eyes. "Oh my Arceus…"

Marie nodded somberly, "It isn't confirmed or anything, but since Titan said that he heard moaning in the woods and I woke up on top of Anthony, we think that it happened. And since we weren't protected, there's a high chance that I'm actually pregnant."

Summer rubbed her back soothingly, noticing that Marie's entire demeanor shifted drastically. It was like she was actually going to cry. The Big Jaw Pokemon sniffled, her emotions beginning to show. "It'll be okay, hon. No one's gonna think of you any different. It could've happened to any of us that night."

"Yeah, but it happened to us," Marie sighed. "And there's a chance that we'll get eliminated from the game because of it. All of this time we've been acting as the leaders, judging the others and eliminating them for their mistakes or annoyance. Guess this'll be karma..."

Summer gave her a look, "Marie, why do you think this is karma? It was an accident. And you just said that you don't even know if you're really pregnant or not."

Marie sighed, holding her head, "I don't know. I guess I'm just letting this whole thing get to me. Anthony and I's relationship was always casual for the most part and we said that we wouldn't have sex unless we had protection _because_ of this possibility."

An idea that could alleviate Marie's pressure and stress spawned in Summer's head, "Well, why don't you ask Virizion or Xerneas for a pregnancy test? That should break the tension."

Marie immediately identified a flaw in her idea, "But if they find out I'm pregnant, Anthony and I will get eliminated."

Summer cursed to herself, "Right… Forgot about that."

"Look Summer, it's okay," Marie concluded with a sigh. "I'll just continue going about things normally, and if I start to show signs, then that's that."

Summer nodded, patting her back.

 **000**

" **I didn't expect her to act like that," Summer explained. "But then again, I didn't expect to hear that she might be pregnant! All I can say is that I hope that for their sake that she's not so that they can stay in the game."**

 **000**

Anthony grew a bit concerned, seeing Marie and Summer enter the cabin. He saw that his girlfriend had a crestfallen expression when she entered and immediately went to the door to check on her. He usually wasn't the type to worry at all, but at this point, if they were having a kid, he knew that he'd have to be more mature and understanding.

As he stood on the outside of the cabin, he pressed his ear near the door and heard Marie explaining the situation.

Kojo, Phill, and Klavier, noticing this, approached him in silence. Anthony used his arm to shoo them away before eventually the door opened, startling Anthony. Marie and Summer immediately noticed him, to which he only smiled awkwardly in response.

Marie didn't seem to care, though, as she wrapped her arms around him, embracing him in a hug. The Blastoise hugged her back, rubbing her back lovingly. " _It's gonna be okay_ ," he whispered to her.

The other guys looked on in confusion as Summer came down next to them, standing behind Kojo and draping her arms down his front. The Mienshao grabbed the paws, kissing one of them with a smile before looking back at the other couple. "What's going on, there?"

Phill nodded, also wanting to know, "Yeah, I've never seen them _that_ into each other before."

Summer turned to them with a smirk, "Don't worry about it. It's a private issue."

 **000**

At the Hall of Origins, Virizion and Xerneas were on the outside of Mew's door. Usually, the New Species Pokemon would be the one to get them so that they could go host the challenges. So, when he didn't show up, the girls grew more concerned.

"Mew? Are you okay in there?" Virizion queried, knocking on the feline's door with a hoof.

Getting no response, the girls exchanged looks of nervousness. With a sigh, a large, green crest of energy formed on Virizion's head before she swung her head down to slice clean through Mew's door. The now divided pieces of the door fell off the hinges, allowing them to enter.

Upon entering, they saw the the psychic's type room was completely clean and he was unmoving on the bed. Frightened, Xerneas checked him, and much to her relief, he was still alive. "Mew! Come on, get up, please!"

Virizion, looking through their friend's bedside drawer, found a pill bottle."Uh… sweetie, I don't think that'll be happening until… at least two days from now."

"What?"

The Grassland Pokemon took out the bottle, which had the label '48 Hour Knockout' on it. Seeing this, the two of them eyed the sleeping psychic-type. They started exiting the room, unsure of what they were going to do for a challenge.

Xerneas spoke up, "So, what are we gonna do now? Mew's out of commission and we have no challenge for them."

Suddenly, a thought entered Virizion's head as she turned back to Xerneas. "Hey, remember when we brought the final seven here in the All-Stars season and had them act like dolls for Phione?"

Xerneas nodded in response.

Virizion explained, "Well, maybe we can just bring them here and have them take care of whatever problems or chores that the others have."

Xerneas decided to simplify it, "In other words, what Raikou, Entei, and Suicune did, right?"

Virizion rolled her eyes, "Sort of, yes. However, they're still in teams, so we can actually assign each team a bunch of the guys and have them just do whatever they say-"

Xerneas immediately cut in, "-As long as it isn't too dangerous or explicit."

Virizion nodded, "And then, we can just have three of the most sensible guys of the groups give a score and whoever does better wins…"

Xerneas nodded in approval. "That can work, but now we just need to get everyone on board with the plan and get the campers down here."

Virizion gave her a look, "All we have to do is go to Arceus and Giratina…"

"Oh… Right," the deer replied as the two of them began heading toward the head couple's bedroom.

 **000**

Aspen and Aura were lying next to each other on the beach, with the shiny Glaceon leaning against her. She took a breath, "Mother of Arceus, it feels good to just rest here."

Aspen nuzzled her back, "Yeah. I just hope we're able to last a bit longer now that all of the annoying idiots are gone for the most part."

Aura giggled as she nuzzled her, "I hope so, too."

A few moments later, a white slit appeared in the sky, and a large, serpentine creature glided out of the opening. The girls, seeing the creature heading toward them, immediately started running back toward the campgrounds in fear.

 **-000-**

The girls made it to the campgrounds, where they saw that the others were either leaving to go to their usual spots or just relaxing for once. Seeing the two of them running with fearful expressions, the others grew curious.

Fez rose a brow as he sat on top of the Loser Cabin, "Uh, why are you two running?"

Aspen blustered, "We just saw something slither out of a hole in the sky!"

The others grew confused as they heard the explanation. Most of them didn't believe them, but everything was a possibility with this show.

Summer folded her arms, "So, you say something _slithered_ from a hole in the sky?"

Aura, knowing that some of them were skeptical, groaned, "We're telling you the truth! Something was heading this way!"

"What did look like?" Phill queried.

"We didn't get a good look at it since it close to the sun and it was far away," Aspen explained. "We just know that it was flying right toward us!"

Lassie scoffed, "So now it was flying?"

"Will you just list-"

They all heard a deep and husky, yet familiar voice echo throughout the island, "ALL CAMPERS REPORT TO THE BEACH IMMEDIATELY!"

Everyone grew confused and worried, but decided to follow the directions of whoever it was.

 **000**

All of the competitors made it to the beach, still a bit skeptical about the entire ordeal. Once they made it to the beach, they saw that there was nobody there, causing confusion.

Shine was the first to speak up, "So does anyone know who it was that told us all to come here?"

Klavier reminded, "Well, Aura and Aspen _did_ say that they saw something scary slither and fly out of a hole in the sky…"

Taylor scoffed, "Seriously? What-"

Suddenly, a large, gray, yellow, red, and black colored dragon appeared in front of them all, startling them. It was the Renegade Pokemon himself, Giratina.

The intimidating dragon greeted them, "Hello."

Still astonished and confused, only a few of the contestants could wave or even respond.

Seeing this, he mentally groaned in annoyance, "Due to a personal problem, you all's challenge will be held at the Hall of Origin today."

Carson grew curious, "Wait, what prob-"

Giratina's glare silenced him immediately, causing him to hide behind Amethyst. He had said the word 'personal', so it should be common sense not to ask further.

Giratina's eyes glowed red as he, and the rest of the competitors, became enveloped in a red aura. They vanished from the beach immediately.

 **000**

All of the contestants, as well as Giratina, reappeared inside of the ghost dragon's shared room. Looking around the remarkably large and clean room, the contestants' eyes eventually settled upon Virizion and Xerneas, who were waiting near the door.

Xerneas called out to them, "Contestants, over here!"

They exchanged looks before walking toward the two. Reaching them, the hostesses greeted them with rather forced smiles.

Sola was the first to question, "Why are we here instead of the island?"

Morgan immediately followed suit with a question of her own, "And what personal problem was Giratina talking about?"

The girls expected this question, and sighed before Virizion decided to explain the situation. "Okay, basically Mew took some pills that have him knocked out cold, so we decided to bring you all here for the challenge instead."

The others were shocked to hear that the pink feline had done that, and were curious as to what led him to make this decision.

Holly queried, "Why'd he do that?"

Xerneas sighed, "We think he's going through a depression spell, but he should be better in a couple of days."

"Let's just focus on today's challenge," Virizion replied, not wanting to think about it much longer. "Today, you guys will be aiding our fellow legendaries with tasks, or essentially just doing whatever they ask of you."

Immediately, there were shouts of protest among the campers. They all knew the legendaries were mostly deplorable, psychotic, completely annoying, and extremely cynical. It was going to be torture!

"You can't be serious! They'll eat us alive!" Ace bellowed.

"Calm down," Xerneas responded. "We've assigned certain legendaries to each team already. And seriously, not all of us are completely psychotic like most of you are thinking."

Anthony fake coughed, "Bullshit…"

The girls glowered at him momentarily before decided to let him slide. "Anyway, at the end, we're gonna ask three of the most reasonable ones from each group to give each team a score and the team with the highest score wins."

"How do we know that they won't just screw us over?" Taylor queried.

The hostesses gave him a look of agitation. Seeing this, Connor decided to answer Taylor's question.

Connor cleared his throat, "Uh, babe, they said that they're going to get the scores from the most reasonable ones."

Taylor blinked, "Well, sure. But who's to say that they won't pull bullshit."

"That'll just be up to them," Xerneas said with a shrug. "Now, are you guys ready?"

None of the contestants replied, as they knew that this was going to be a horrific experience. Getting no reply, the hostesses decided to go through with it regardless.

"Follow us," the Grassland Pokemon said as she exited the room, with Xerneas following suit.

The cast exchanged looks before following them out the door, leaving the alpha couple alone in their room. They hadn't moved at all, so they heard everything and grew agitated quickly.

 **000**

Prior to the contestants being brought to the hall, the hostesses gathered a fair amount of the legendaries there. Most of them practically jumped at the chance of having things taken care of by the contestants, while others couldn't care less.

"Alright, the contestants are here, so the challenge is about to begin," Xerneas explained as the contestants stood with their teams.

"Just get on with it," Darkrai drawled.

A red and black bird nodded in agreement, "Yeah, some of us have better things to do."

The girls glared at them before turning to the teams. "Alright, each team will have fifteen legendaries to handle," Virizion explained.

The contestants paled upon hearing that, with Fez exclaiming, "But, there's less than fifteen of us on each team!"

Latios scoffed, "You guys are getting close to the merge, pussy. If you're pissy about this, there's no way in the Distortion World that you'll last any longer in this game."

The contestants exchanged looks of surprise at that revelation, while the hostesses glared daggers at the male Eon Pokemon.

Despite their annoyance, they continued setting up the challenge. The Grassland Pokemon continued, "Ho-Ohs, you guys will be taking care of… Ho-Oh, Groudon, Palkia, Celebi, Yveltal, Tornadus, Terrakion, Heatran, Regice, Latias, Tapu Koko, Tapu Fini, Articuno, Manaphy, and Zekrom."

Seeing who all was called, the Ho-Ohs exchanged looks of uncertainty. The legendaries themselves looked relatively calm and unbothered.

Xerneas went ahead and said who the Lugias would be handling. "Lugias, you guys will be with Lugia, Kyogre, Dialga, Jirachi, Darkrai, Landorus, Volcanion, Hoopa, Regirock, Latios, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Lele, Moltres, Necrozma, and Reshiram."

The legendaries that were assigned to the Lugias held the same indifferent expressions, though a few of them held smirks.

"Now, you guys can separate and do whatever," Virizion announced before glaring at the legendaries. "But, like we discussed, nothing dangerous."

Hoopa rolled her eyes, "Whatever, just get outta here and let us have our fun."

The girls glowered at him before walking toward Mew's room. The contestants stared blankly at the legendaries before them before Jirachi spoke up.

"So… Are we gonna do this or not?"

Ho-Oh cleared his throat, "Alright, how about _my_ team goes to the living room and Lugia, your team stays here."

Lugia rolled her eyes with a huff, "Whatever."

Grumbling, the Rainbow Pokemon started flying toward the living room. The other legendaries that were assigned to the Ho-Ohs' team followed the fire- and flying-type to the living room. The Horrible Ho-Ohs, despite their reluctance, followed their group, avoiding eye contact with the other, remaining legendaries.

This left the Loser Lugias alone with the their group of legendaries. Deciding to break the silence, Hoopa immediately decided to get their fun started.

She asked bluntly, "Alright, which one of you guys has big balls?"

Immediately, everyone's eyes widened. This was definitely going to be interesting and frightening.

 **000**

The Horrible Ho-Ohs were all either sitting on the couches or on the floor of the living room, awaiting their imminent at the hands of these legendaries.

Eager to start commanding, Groudon rubbed his large hands together. "Okay, so you all have to do exactly what we say if you want a good score. This should be fun." He pointed to Aura, "You, shiny one, go make me a sandwich."

Manaphy cleared his throat before the Glaceon could even react, "Perhaps we should spend a few moments to actually _know_ these contestants first before commanding them."

Tapu Fini agreed, "Yes, I agree with Manaphy wholeheartedly. It seems a bit cruel to just start throwing them into peculiar situations without even knowing their names."

The Continent Pokemon groaned in annoyance, just wanting to have fun with his power. But, knowing that he'd likely be overruled, he acquiesced, "Fine."

Tornadus, in his Therian Form, spoke up following Groudon's agreement. Turning to the contestants, he cleared his throat and flew forward a bit, "Alright, so if we can get your names, birthdays, and social security numbers, we'll be able to hurry this process and get on with your tasks…"

The Ho-Ohs only blinked, exchanging unsure glances, not sure whether to take him seriously or not. They got a clear understanding once Articuno flew forward and smacked Tornadus in the back of his head, "What in Arceus' name do you need their birthdays and social security numbers for?"

Rubbing the area that the Freeze Pokemon hit, Tornadus defended himself, uttering, "It was just a joke, jeez!"

Yveltal, not really wanting any part of this in the first place, finally got things moving, glaring at the contestants and snapping, "Just say your damn names so these fucks can order you around. And seriously, stop acting so fucking pathetic, you're in a fucking dangerous game show, us being in your presence should _not_ that big of a fucking deal."

Everyone remained silent for a while before Latias took a crack at it, "In other words, tell us your names and we'll get this over with."

Marie, being the unofficial team leader, decided to introduce herself first. With a sigh, she presented, "I'm Marie…"

Anthony placed an arm around her and sighed, "Anthony…"

The contestants continued to introduce themselves, with the legendaries patiently soaking in the information. Eventually, it ended with Phill.

Ho-Oh nodded, "Alright, now that we're all acquainted, let's get this challenge started."

Groudon groaned, "Finally! Now, again. _Aura_ , go and make me a sandwich!"

Aura groaned, rising and walking toward the large kitchen. Once she was out of the vicinity, Groudon continued with another request, "Lassie, go clean my room."

Lassie deadpanned, "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. Now unless you want a crappy score, I suggest you get to it," the colossal ground-type sneered.

Grumbling to herself, the Froslass started floating toward the rooms, with Groudon following her in order to show her where his room is.

Manaphy looked over the contestants before his eyes settled on two in particular, "Hmm… Anthony and Marie, can you guys come with me?"

The couple exchanged looks before rising up and following the Seafaring Pokemon

Ho-Oh moaned, "Oh come _on_ , if you guys keep on taking two at a time, how the hell are the rest of us supposed to have a turn?"

Tapu Koko scoffed, "And what exactly do _you_ need done? You're the gayest straight guy I've ever seen! Your room's completely clean, you don't have any problems other than Lugia not wanting to bang you, and you're generally a bore."

The Rainbow Pokemon glowered at the electric Land Spirit Pokemon. "Companionship is good enough for me…"

Yveltal grumbled, "Weak…"

"You're not even interested in this. Why are you still here?" Latias queried, giving him a glare.

Yveltal glared back, "You know what, you're actually right. Fuck this."

The Destruction Pokemon flew away from the group, much to everyone's relief. With him gone, things seem to go by a bit smoother.

"Alright, Fez, I want you to fix up my nest and just straighten up my room in general," Articuno explained. "Been having a bit too much fun, lately."

"Fun with what? I haven't touched you in a while," Tornadus chortled, earning him a backwing from the Freeze Pokemon.

The guys snickered at his misfortune, as the girls rolled their eyes at his immaturity. The contestants just looked on, surprised at how they were behaving. They thought that it was going to much more chaotic, but they actually seemed to behave like some of them.

"Anyways…" the ice- and flying-type seethed, glaring daggers at Tornadus, who had a fearful, sheepish smile on his face. "Fez, my room, go."

The Unfezant shrugged before flying past them all. Articuno followed suit, wanting to give him specific instructions.

The numbers continued to dwindle as the legendaries chose who would help them, and the ones who were unable to get their turn would wait until the other guys' tasks were completed.

"Alright, so we won't have to look for you guys, come back to the living room and wait for your next task," Ho-Oh instructed before the other contestants left with their commanders.

 **000**

Reshiram sighed in annoyance, as she and the other legendaries still hadn't left the lobby area. Not due to their lack of ideas, but due to the _overabundance_ of ideas, and the stupidity behind most of them.

She groaned, holding her head, "I knew I could count on you guys to be sexist and stupid."

Latios scoffed, "Oh shut up, goody-goody. You don't even want these losers to do anything. All you care about is spending time with Zekrom."

Reshiram rolled her eyes, "Yes, that's accurate. But, what's also accurate is that you guys are taking a _very_ long time just deciding who you're gonna choose to do what. And the stuff that you _do_ want them to do is pretty degrading."

Darkrai rolled his eyes, "Half of them are housewives. I don't see what's so degrading about telling them to go make us lunch."

"You idiots are insinuating that they belong in the kitchen," Landorus explained.

Tapu Lele groaned in annoyance, "Ugh, why'd Cobalion's cock sleeves have to group you boring, hesitant guys with us? This is our chance to have mortals do whatever we say and you guys are condemning every idea we have!"

Meanwhile, the Lugias were all sitting there, enjoying the drama unfolding before them. A few of them were surprised, while others had come to expect this after dealing with some of them and knowing about their previous relationship drama, as it was practically a staple of the earlier seasons.

Taylor was coiled around Connor, still glaring at the group of legendaries, specifically Hoopa, due to her question. _No one_ was allowed near Connor's _toy_ but him.

Eventually, the arguing ceased, and the legendaries focused their attention back on the contestants. This worried them. Soon enough, Lugia flew forward, acting as the messenger.

"Okay, we're about to get started, finally," Lugia began. "However, know that some of us don't really have anything for you to do, so you may get repetitive tasks and deal with the same assholes every time."

Shine deadpanned, "Joy…"

"Alright, wife of Satan, you go and make us lunch," Darkrai commanded.

Shine kept her unamused expression, but proceeded toward the kitchen, a small smirk forming on her face. Seeing this, Moltres immediately grew frightened. "Wait, wait, wait! She might do something to our food! Uh… Choose someone else."

The legendaries looked at him, rather skeptical, but upon thinking about it further, they realized that his fear was justified.

Darkrai rolled his eyes, "Okay then, uh… You, Meganium girl, go fix us some food."

Ashton sighed as the Espeon walked back toward the group.

 **000**

" **Would I have messed with their food?" Shine asked to the camera. She shrugged, "It'd be a lie if I said that I wouldn't."**

" **Guess my connection to my hubby** _ **does**_ **have some perks…"**

 **000**

As Ashton went to the kitchen, the legends turned to their attention back to the eleven remaining members of the team.

Kyogre, who was in a large aquarium with wheels, huffed, "Well if she's not gonna cook, she can clean. Pink wifey, clean my pool."

Shine rolled her eyes as she watched the Sea Basin Pokemon drive her aquarium toward another area of the hall.

Hoopa decided to try her request again, as she was interrupted by Jirachi, "I ask again… Which one of you guys has the biggest balls?"

Defensively, Taylor replied, "And why do you need to know? No one is touching my boyfriend's junk but me!"

Connor blushed in complete embarrassment as a few of the legendaries recoiled, stared, or laughed at the bluster. Hoopa was doing the last one, chuckling.

"Keep your panties on, queer," Hoopa teased. "No one wants to fuck your man."

Taylor held his glare, but was still glad that no one was going to do anything. "Good!"

"But, since that insinuates that he's pretty plump in that regard, I can use him," Hoopa continued, making the Milotic growl.

"Bouffalant boy, I need you to go into Kyurem's room and get my other ring back," the Mischief Pokemon explained, pointing to her left horn, which had no ring around it.

Connor blinked, "Uh… Y-You said do what now?"

Hoopa's eyes glowed as an aura surrounded Connor, who Taylor was still coiled around. The Bouffalant was lifted up, with the psychic- and ghost-type floating up alongside him as he was taken up to a higher level.

Taylor twitched, but Ace rubbed his side in order to try and calm him down. Taking a few deep breaths as the Sylveon did this, the Milotic regained his composure. He was _very_ protective of Connor, not wanting anyone else to mess with him. If someone messed with Connor, they messed with him.

After that display, Latios couldn't help but growl. He glowered at the Tender Pokemon, "I swear, you guys make us look bad!"

Not knowing who he was glaring directly at, Morgan grew perplexed. "Uh… What do you mean?"

"Nobody touches my boyfriend's junk but me," Latios mocked. "Way to fall into the gay stereotype that we're all sexual deviants."

Ace and Taylor exchanged looks of confusion, while the other legendaries just gazed condescendingly at the male Eon Pokemon.

Necrozma, having remaining silent the entire time, deadpanned, "Latios, shut the hell up. You, Terrakion, Heatran, Entei, and Silvally _all_ fall into that fucking stereotype. The only one who doesn't is Volcanion."

The Steam Pokemon narrowed his eyes at the Prism Pokemon, annoyed at his inclusion in the conversation.

Latios scoffed, "Necrozma, frankly, nobody gives a damn about your opinion, okay? Now, snake boy, you're with me…"

Taylor didn't really like the legendary's attitude, but given that this was a challenge, he had no choice. He slithered behind Latios as he flew toward the living room.

Similar the Ho-Ohs with Yveltal, with Latios gone, things seemed to calm down a bit and become more organized, "Okay, now that two of the main annoyances are gone, let's get these things settled," Tapu Lele began, rubbing her hands together. "Bell boy and disaster girl, I want you two to clean our showers. There's a lot of grime, hair, soap scum, and bodily fluids that needs to be taken care of."

Carson and Sola exchanged looks of disgust.

"Oh, and you have to use Raikou, Victini, and Keldeo's toothbrushes," she added. "It'll be much more rewarding that way."

Hearing that, Carson whined, "But that'll take us all day!"

The psychic-type Land Spirit Pokemon responded, "That's _your_ problem, not mine."

The rest of the players were given their tasks as the interested legendaries thought of tasks that could benefit themselves. Soon, all of the Lugias were separated.

 **000**

Phill had been 'recruited' by Heatran and Terrakion in order to complete a task for them. From the looks they gave each other, he could immediately tell that they were romantically involved, which he found a bit weird, but also kinda cute.

The couple led him to the Cavern Pokemon's bedroom, passing by a few of the Lugias and other Ho-Ohs. The Raticate saw the irritated and unsettled looks on their faces and sighed to himself. He didn't know what to expect from these two, but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Making it up the enormous staircase, Phill found himself panting from the exercise. Hearing the noise, Terrakion looked back and saw the Raticate slowly pulling himself onto the next large step.

"You alright, there?" the Cavern Pokemon queried as he continued to climb, with Heatran looking back curiously.

Phill plopped on his back, giving a thumbs up, "Y-Yeah… I'm fine, just… Need to take a breather. These are a lot of big steps…"

The couple exchanged looks before Terrakion went back down to retrieve the fallen Mouse Pokemon. Lowering his lower back to allow him to climb on. Phill obliged, climbing onto his back. Once on, the Cavern Pokemon continued up the stairs with Heatran by his side. The couple made it to right level and walked toward the room they usually shared.

Once inside, Phill slid off of Terrakion's back and looked around the room. The walls were a beige tint, with multiple pictures of the two. There was a king-sized bed against the opposite wall, with a large television on the right wall. Their carpet was remarkably soft, with no burn marks or holes in the floor despite Heatran being a fire- and steel-type. A single nightstand was beside the bed holding an old lamp.

There was a defining odor of musk in the air, making Phill mentally gag.

Terrakion walked toward the wall near their bed, "Now, Phill. Your task is gonna be simple and easy."

He moved one of their pictures to the side, revealing a pink button. Headbutting it, a portion of the wall extended forward before sliding to the side, revealing a hidden closet. The Lava Dome Pokemon closed the door before walking over to the closet. Phill followed suit, and upon seeing what was inside, his eyes widened.

There were numerous phallic objects of different sizes, shapes, and colors on different shelves; some of them even looked like they were made of different materials.

Phill twitched, "A-Are those…"

"Yep," Heatran nodded. "Our sex toy collection. We gotta please ourselves with more than the real things from time to time."

Phill was still completely shocked, and also a bit disturbed, "How do you guys even-" He cut himself off, "You know what? I don't want to know. So, what do you want me to do?"

Terrakion cleared his throat, "Well, uh… As you can probably guess, we frequently use these and…"

"...they need to be cleaned," Heatran finished.

Phill nodded in understanding, "So, you want me to clean all of these things, which are covered in your bodily fluids?"

Terrakion chuckled sheepishly, "Well, hearing it like that makes it sound worse. Uh… Well, you'll have gloves and everything. You'll just have to ask Mewtwo or Deoxys and get some hot water and soap."

Phill sighed, "Okay, so nowI have to go find gloves, get a bowl of hot water, soap, and I'm guessing a towel as well."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. We would've had everything prepared, _but_ it's a challenge for you guys, so we decided against it," Heatran explained.

Phill unenthusiastically replied,"No, no, I get it. I'm more concerned with how tedious this is gonna be…"

"Wait, you don't really mind this? I mean, the way you sounded-"

Phill cut him off with a shrug, "Eh, I was disturbed at first, but I'm over it. This is actually pretty impressive. Never thought I'd see so many in the room of a legendary, and the fact that you're open about it is pretty cool, too."

The two of them blushed, confused about the Mouse Pokemon's commendation.

Heatran rose a brow, "Uh… thanks. Anyways, you should go ahead and get what you need, we'll be here, waiting."

Phill started walking away when a thought entered his head. " _Arceus, I hope they don't start using one after I leave…_ "

 **000**

" **Meh, I'm pretty desensitized to that kind of stuff," Phill shrugged. " I just find it impressive and kinky. I wonder if I'll ever meet a girl with a closet like that. As long as she doesn't insist on using any on me, I'd be fine with it."**

 **000**

Landorus had chosen Kojo as his helper, much to the mustelid's relief. Landorus was debatably one of the most calm and mature of all of the legendaries, excluding Arceus and Giratina. The Abundance Pokemon, in his Therian Forme, had taken the Mienshao to his room in order to avoid the sight of his fellow legendaries.

Kojo sat on a couch that was positioned at the edge of the ground- and flying-type's bed, facing his television. As he sat there, Landorus paced back and forth momentarily before heading to his door.

He turned back to Kojo with a stern glare, "I'll be back, don't go anywhere and don't touch anything…"

And with that, he left the room, leaving the confused Mienshao alone. He spoke to himself, "Hmm, wonder what that was about."

Standing up from his comfortable seat, he decided to look around the legendary's large room. His bed was neatly made and had a blue comforter decorated with intricate stitched patterns on it. The walls were an eggshell color, which he found rather appealing. He wandered around the room, eyeing the legendary's bookshelf, which was filled with numerous books of varying sizes, as well as a few DVD cases, presumably with movies inside.

He noticed his desk beside his bookshelf and saw a laptop, as well as a notebook sitting on it. Approaching it, he looked at the notebook and saw that it was open and on a specific page. At the top of the exposed page, the words 'How to end Herald of Darkness' were underlined with numerous ideas underneath them.

He rose a brow as he read through them, "Helicopters find the survivors. The power of friendship prevails. Let the dark ruler kill the hero? What the hell?"

Landorus entered the room once again, and upon seeing where Kojo was, gave him a look of disapproval. "I thought I told you not to touch anything…"

Kojo replied, "I'm not touching anything, I'm just looking on your desk. I can see that you're planning the ending of what I'm guessing is a book you're writing."

Landorus groaned at the mention of it as he approached. "I haven't written anything dealing with that in nearly a month. I can't come up with an ending I'm satisfied with, so I've pretty much put a hiatus on myself to clear my head and come up with better ideas…"

Curious, and thinking that he could help, Kojo asked, "What's the premise? Maybe I can help."

Landorus gruffly chortled, "I doubt it, but the story goes-"

 **000**

Aura was grumbling to herself as she finished constructing a sandwich for Groudon. Being that the kitchen was _enormous_ in order to accommodate the larger legendaries like Groudon and the occasional Ultra Beast, even though they weren't considered legendaries, she had to use the smaller kitchen that was created a few days ago at the request of Manaphy.

It was just a standard ham and cheese sandwich, the same kinds that he made for Chase and Autumn when they were younger. She always made sure to coat the cheese in sour cream, slather the ham in a bit of honey, and then grill it in a buttered pan.

As she placed the sandwich on a paper plate, the shiny Glaceon glanced over to Ashton, who was looking in the pantry of this smaller scale kitchen. Given that they were on opposing teams, Aura was tempted to sabotage her, but decided against it. They were all still stuck doing these idiotic, degrading tasks anyway, no use in making anything more difficult than needed.

Instead, the ice-type walked toward her curiously. They hadn't truly exchanged words before, so what could be the harm?

She approached her from behind, asking, "So, what do one of them have _you_ making?"

Ashton was surprised that Aura was actually speaking to her, and, being who she was, she let out a sigh before responding. "Well, Darkrai told Shine to come in here and make them all lunch, but then Moltres got freaked out and said that she might sabotage their food, so Darkrai told me to come in here instead. That being said, I have no idea what I'm supposed to make that'll satiate them."

Aura huffed upon hearing about how Shine got out of this task, but regained her focus to respond. "Well, I just made Groudon a sandwich. It's extremely small, but I have no idea how he expects me to get those huge ingredients from that big ass refrigerator or even get up to that damn counter."

She gestured to the humongous fridge before pointing to the large kitchen counter, which was over twenty feet tall. Ashton nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I can understand that. I just need an idea of what I can do."

Aura moved past her, peering into the pantry, "Well, what all do they have?"

Inside of the smaller pantry, there were potato chips, bags of marshmallows, a variety of other candies, cans of beans, corn, and other assorted vegetables and meats, boxes of rice, pasta, and cereal, and assorted canned sauces. An idea immediately came into Aura's mind.

Turning to Ashton, she suggested, "You could make spaghetti. It's probably the easiest thing to make and it shouldn't take that long to complete."

Ashton thought about it momentarily and, because they weren't specific with what they wanted, decided to go through with it. "Alright, spaghetti it is…" she decided, using her vines to grab one of the bags of spaghetti and a couple of cans of tomato sauce.

As she did this, Aura decided to keep their conversation going. As Ashton looked underneath bottom cabinets for pots, Aura walked beside her. "So, do you have any kids?"

Ashton hummed, "No, but I'd like to one day. My husband and I just have to agree and our financial and housing situations have to be completely stable."

Aura rose a brow at the mention of stability, "Stable? I thought we were all pretty much rich because of the royalty checks."

Ashton shook her head, "Raiden wants our money to be earned, not compensated. He still has all of the checks locked up somewhere."

Aura was shocked, "Wait, _what_? I'll be damned if my non-existent husband expected me to work my ass off when we have thousands of dollars in royalty checks!"

Ashton chuckled, "Well, the thing is that _he_ is the one working his butt off. He doesn't want me to have to lay a paw. But, after we got the call that one of us would have to come back, I decided to come so that he could _hopefully_ take a break."

Aura groaned, "I'm sorry, but that sounds dumb to me. You guys have money from this show airing on television, but he's working his ass on his own accord… Because he doesn't think the money from the show is really earned? After all we go through, that kind of money _is_ earned."

Ashton shrugged, "Well, that's just his perspective; I can't really tell him flat out that he's wrong. If he wants to earn his own money, I let him. It's not a big deal."

Aura sighed in defeat, knowing that she wasn't going to convince Ashton to put her foot down. She was too kind. Thinking about that, she decided to shift the subject a bit, wanting to see if her demeanor changed.

Aura smacked her lips, "I'll be honest, even if everything was stable for you guys, I couldn't really imagine you having sex. You're just so wholesome and PG; it's weird to think about."

A blush grew on the Meganium's face, "Yeah, I get that a lot. I mean, Raiden and I don't have sex all that often, but we still do."

Aura nodded, "Okay, now how does that work? Considering he's a Venusaur and pretty damn big and heavy?"

Ashton's face was a deep crimson as she filled one of the pots with water and placed it on one of the stove's eyes. "I'm not entirely sure if I'm comfortable with sharing that…"

"Oh come on, Ashton. It's just us here. Girl to girl…"

Ashton sighed, "Fine. He-"

 **000**

 **Aura had a major blush on her face, she was even trembling slightly. "W-What the hell? WHAT THE HELL!? How do the nicest people on this show always turn out to being the freakiest in bed!?"**

 **000**

"Darling, you have too much stress. You need to learn to calm down and learn to enjoy yourself, regardless of the negative possibilities," Tapu Fini explained to Klavier, who was sitting against the wall of her room.

She decided not to give him a task, instead preferring to get to know him better. His shy and nervous demeanor intrigued her, which lead to her choosing him.

Klavier sighed, looking down, "I'm sorry, but… I can't help but feel like I'm going to screw something up and make people dislike me. And I don't my girlfriend to be disappointed or upset at me."

Tapu Fini floated toward him, placing a hand on his cheek, "Honey, that's a part of life. Not everything is peaches and cream or sunshine and lollipops. You have to learn to accept mistakes and use them to better yourself. It's unrealistic to never make mistakes."

Klavier looked down at his claws. "But, people hate it when others make simple mistakes and a lot of hate spawns from it."

Tapu Fini sighed, "Klavier, those people who you're talking about are no different. Them getting mad at somebody else for a mistake only shows their immaturity and inflated egos. Nobody is capable of being perfect, so you shouldn't try to be. And even if it _was_ possible, would life really be enjoyable for you?"

Klavier blinked. Thinking about it, she was right. Being perfect would be boring after a while. You would face no conflict, no losses, no anything. You could do no wrong. He swallowed a bit of saliva before responding, "N-No."

"Precisely my point," Tapu Fini replied. "People who acts like making mistakes, getting things wrong, or having a dark sense of humor is incorrect and should be punishable are the people who are unable to notice their own flaws and insecurities. We all have them."

Klavier nodded as Tapu Fini placed a hand on his head, "I can tell that you're a genuinely sweet and sensible guy. We need more men like you in this world of ours. You just need to have confidence in yourself and not let what you _think_ will happen control your decisions."

The Gliscor blushed before nodding in understanding, "T-Thanks, Tapu Fini."

The Land Spirit Pokemon nodded, "Now, I assume that you would like to move on to your next task for your challenge."

Klavier paled, "Uh… Actually…"

Tapu Fini gave him a stern glare. Receiving this glare, Klavier sighed, "Confidence, right…"

The Fang Scorpion Pokemon took his leave, heading to the door.

 **000**

 **Klavier let out a sigh. "I expected things to be much worse. I'm glad that she gave me actual advice. I'm still a bit worried about how things will go down the line, but hopefully it isn't that bad."**

 **000**

Latios had led Taylor to an enormous, empty room full of cardboard boxes. The room was going to be an actual theatre area, but the construction and setting up of the equipment hadn't started yet. Once they entered, Latios closed the door behind them and locked it.

Noticing this, the Milotic glared at him. "Why the hell did you lock the-"

"How big is he?" Latios interrupted, folding his arms.

Taylor was a bit confused by what he meant by that; he was still confused as to why he locked the door behind them. "What are you talking about?"

Latios clarified, "Your boyfriend. Bouffalant boy. How big is he?"

Taylor scoffed, "You just fucking condemned me for apparently following some stupid sex crazed stereotype, and now you're asking about my man's dick size?!"

The Eon Pokemon blinked, "...What's your point?"

Taylor glowered at him, with Latios groaning in annoyance, "Ugggh, yes, I'm a hypocrite sometimes and I'm just as bad, if not worse, than you. Now can you spill the beans? I'm curious."

"Why the hell are you so interested all of a sudden?"

Latios chuckled, "Because, if you were _that_ quick to keep someone else from getting near him, he _must_ be giving you the good stuff."

Taylor blushed in response, looking to the side. "So what if he is? What do you plan on doing with that information?"

"Just gonna compare it to the other guys," the dragon- and psychic-type replied with a shrug. "I've done it with a few of the guys here and just want to get a comparison for fun."

"Wait, you've done it some of the other male legendaries already?"

"Yep," Latios nodded in affirmation. "And out of all of them I've had one night stands with, I'd want to have bit more of Volcanion. Girth, endurance, and kinkiness…"

"Who all have you done it with, exactly?" Taylor queried, _his_ curiosity now piqued.

Latios gave him a look, "You tell me what I want to know, and I'll happily share."

Taylor gave him a look of distrust, "Fine. But, if you try anything later-"

Latios scoffed, "Please. I wouldn't dare bone one of you averages…"

With that in mind, Taylor groaned, "Fine. He's thirty-six inches and I take it all, now who the heck have you banged?"

Latios blinked in surprise, "Wow. You _are_ a trooper. I know I wouldn't be able to handle all of that."

"Probably not," Taylor replied. "Anyways, I need names…"

Latios looked at the numerous boxes in the room as an idea popped into his head. "Tell ya what. You help me set this movie room up, and we can keep on chatting. Oddly enough, I'm enjoying your company…"

Taylor, upon hearing this, screamed in his head, but he nodded in agreement. "Deal."

 **000**

Marie and Anthony were inside of Phione's playroom, as Manaphy rocked Phione back and forth. Despite her being slightly larger and heavier than him, the Seafaring Pokemon was dealing with her just fine.

"Alright, I need you two to babysit Phione while I take a long, long nap," he explained with tired eyes. "Just do whatever you can to please her. Play with her, feed her, preoccupy her, just… Don't make her cry. If she cries, everything goes to shit…"

The couple exchanged looks of unsurety before looking back at the legendary father. "What do you mean by that?"

Manaphy deadpanned, "Just don't make her cry."

He handed the sleeping Sea Drifter Pokemon over to the couple, with Marie cradling her. Anthony looked down at the Pokemon in her arms and swallowed in slight nervousness.

Manaphy sighed in relief as he started walking away, "Alright, I'll be in my room. _Please_ , don't need me."

Exiting the room, the couple exchanged looks before walking over to the young one's crib. Marie placed her into the crib gently before feeling hands around her waist. The two of them gazed into the crib, marveling at the toddler.

"Well…" Anthony began. "At least she's asleep for right now…"

Marie nodded before turning to him, "Yeah, but what are we gonna do when she wakes up?"

Anthony chuckled, moving away from her and looking around the floor. "Well, there are a bunch of toys and stuffed animals around here. She's got a big television for cartoons or whatever, and…"

He looked around and noticed a refrigerator and microwave in a back corner of the room. "...there's a fridge in here, so we don't have to leave to get her anything."

The Feraligatr smiled softly as Anthony walked toward the fridge. Opening it, he saw that the refrigerator had multiple milk bottles, a few juice boxes, cans of fruit, as well as packages of other food. "Huh… I expected a bit more. But, I guess it'll do."

He closed the fridge before turning back around and being met with a kiss from Marie, who pinned him against the fridge. Anthony's hands immediately went to her butt as the two of them engaged in a brief makeout session.

Marie broke the kiss with a sigh, making Anthony chuckle, "What was that for?"

"For caring…" she explained, hugging him.

Anthony hugged her back, kissing her cheek. "So, what do you want to do until she wakes up?"

Marie thought about it momentarily. Despite them being together for a while, they hadn't spoken about each others' homelives or favorite things to do that much. This was because they didn't believe that their relationship would really go anywhere serious. However, now that it has, this was a perfect chance.

"We can just… Talk if you want to," Marie shrugged.

Anthony chuckled, "Fine by me…"

The Blastoise took a seat in a rocking chair, with Marie walking over and sitting in his lap.

 **000**

Connor was inside of an extremely large room. His entire body was trembling, the intense, frigid temperature in the room causing goosebumps to appear on his legs. His breath was visible with every breath he took as he sulked through the Boundary Pokemon's room.

Hoopa's request was very idiotic and dangerous for him. Apparently, according to her, going into Kyurem's territory uninvited is a bona fide death sentence. He nearly killed Latias for coming in unannounced. For that reason, along with Yveltal's rage, and the other deaths of the legendaries due to human involvement, Arceus granted them all immortality centuries ago, _and_ rid their world of humans so that it didn't happen again.

The Bouffalant swallowed in anxiousness as he peered around the large, foggy room. He needed to find Hoopa's other ring, but she didn't even specify why where it'd possibly be. Luckily enough, Kyurem, upon being told that the contestants were coming, vacated the hall entirely in order to avoid dealing with them.

Connor was looking around; he could barely see anything inside of the room. He didn't notice that there was no bed in the room, nor was there a television or any type of comforting furniture or devices inside of the room. He continued walking forward, but with the door closed and the only light being near the door, he couldn't just faintly see where he was going.

"C-Come on… W-Where is th-this s-stupid r-ring?" he grumbled while shivering. He finally ran into the right wall opposite of the room. Looking around there, he could slightly make out a chest. It was completely light blue in color and reflective, signifying that it was made of ice.

Believing that it held the ring in question, Connor attempted to open it, only to jump back upon touching it. It stung his hoof, making him groan in annoyance. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

He knew that he wasn't going to be touching that again, so he started walking back toward the front door so that Hoopa could check it herself. Plus, with Kyurem gone, she should have been able to get it herself in the first place.

Exiting the room, Connor looked around to see that Hoopa was no longer outside of the door, meaning that he'd have to track her down in order to get his task over with.

 **000**

Aspen was sitting in the girls' hangout room with Latios and a few of the other female legendaries that weren't involved with the challenge. Her task was to serve them their drinks and snacks, pretty much act as a butler. Among the girls in the room, other than Latias, there was Shaymin, Suicune, Registeel, Zygarde, and Meloetta. Aspen was listening in on their conversations, which got really juicy and wild quickly.

Zygarde, in her 10% Forme, asked seriously, "So, Suicune, have you decided to keep your legs closed and stay loyal to a single guy yet?"

Suicune gave her a look, "Don't start with me. I've only had sex with Raikou and Keldeo. You guys act like none of you have dated or had sex with other partners…"

Registeel deadpanned, "I'm asexual and hate the others."

Meloetta added, "And nearly all of the guys here are either morons, annoying, or have something wrong with them. And the ones that are actually capable and sane are already taken. So, I don't see a point."

"Let's see… Rayquaza, Giratina, Palkia, Zekrom, Manaphy, Landorus…" Shaymin listed. "I mean, Manaphy and Landorus are free…"

"Manaphy is almost always tired or busy with taking care of other Pokemon under the sea or here with Phione, so that's an automatic 'no' for me," Meloetta explained. "And if I'm being honest, Landorus scares me a bit. He's almost always so serious and almost always has a neutral expression or a frown on his face, regardless of the circumstances."

Hearing all of this, Aspen couldn't help but chime in, "Jeez, it can't be _that_ bad here can it?"

The girls all turned to her, with Suicune scoffing, "Please. You don't have to live here with all of these imbeciles. It's _that_ bad."

Aspen rose a brow, "Uh, you sure you girls aren't being a bit too hard on them?"

"You have no idea what we go through here," Zygarde groaned. "Constant pranks, pointless arguments-"

"So all of the guys pull pranks and start pointless arguments?" Aspen deadpanned.

"Look, your challenge here is to serve. So why don't you just do that?" Registeel said, tossing Shaymin's muffin wrapper on the floor.

Aspen pouted, "Hey, just because I'm here for a challenge doesn't mean I can't talk to you. We're all girls here, so we have similar experiences…"

"Oh? And what's your experience with getting a paint bomb thrown into your room at four in the morning?" Meloetta queried.

Zygarde added, "Or having to debate someone over the importance of a fucking seat on the couch?"

"You guys live in a house with over forty others and you expect everything to be completely stable?" Aspen asked rhetorically as she went into their fridge to take out another box of muffins. "All of you have different personalities, likes, and dislikes. There are going to be arguments and pranks. You just sound like you want everything to be completely serious all the time."

As she brought Shaymin another muffin, Latias spoke up, "Not me. That's mostly Mel, Zy, Registeel, Articuno, Diancie, and sometimes Deoxys, Celebi, and Jirachi."

"Well excuse us for not wanting to be immature," Registeel sarcastically replied.

"Trying to have fun doesn't mean you're immature. Laughing doesn't mean you're immature. Doing things out of the norm doesn't make you immature," Aspen replied. "People trying to force others to be mature or say that they're above it all because they're more mature are usually boring and have no imagination. At least that's what I think."

"Well, your opinion is something that no one, except for yourself, really values," Meloetta replied.

"Okay, but didn't you say that you were scared of Landorus because he was too serious? Doesn't that mean that you don't _like_ seriousness?"

Meloetta scoffed, "No, it means that I don't want to deal with random yelling or stupid activities and pranks…"

"And why is that?"

"Because it's stupid!" she exclaimed.

"And _why_ is it stupid?" Aspen asked, lying down next to a bean bag chair. "Because you don't like it? Or you're too scared to do it yourself and break from the standard that the others have set upon you?"

All of the girls remained silent, with Meloetta blushing from embarrassment. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. After a couple of seconds, she was able to finally speak, "I'm… I'm gonna go back to my room for a while."

The normal- and psychic-type teleported away, leaving the other female legendaries surprised as they turned back to Aspen, who was just as surprised.

 **000**

" **Okay, so my boyfriend's mom is a therapist and my mom is a psychiatrist. Didn't expect the conversation to turn into those sessions…" Aspen giggled.**

 **000**

Carson and Sola were inside of the huge shower room of the legendaries. Carson groaned in annoyance as he scrubbed the grout of the tiles with the Keldeo's toothbrush. He and Sola had started this task more than half an hour ago and they were barely done with their first ones. They each decided to take a side, that way things got done faster, but it certainly didn't seem like it was working.

The Bronze Bell Pokemon let out an annoyed grunt, "This is gonna take us all day! I wanted to actually prove myself to the team in a meaningful way, not by scrubbing some dumb showers!"

Sola shrugged as she continued at it with Raikou's toothbrush, "Meh, it's not that big of a deal. It's better than doing something insane or dangerous. I just wish we had some music or something so that time went by faster."

Carson, having been wanting to prove himself to her and the others in her alliance, grew agitated at how nonchalant she was acting. Here he was, starting to put himself in challenges and thinking negatively about himself, and she didn't even seem to care.

Perturbed, Carson began, "Hey, uh… Sola. Why are you acting so calm and nonchalant?"

The Absol looked at him in confusion, "Uh… Whaddya mean? I'm just doing the challenge."

Carson huffed before grumbling, "For once."

He continued scrubbing the tiles, but Sola had heard what he said under his breath. A look of shock, and also annoyance, grew on her face as she turned to the steel- and psychic-type with a soft growl, "What did you say?"

Carson wasn't one for conflict at all, but after Amethyst told him, Ashton, and Holly that they'd all have to step their games up to impress them so that we didn't get eliminated, not only did he feel awful for failing his parts in the challenge, he felt annoyed that the five of them practically offered nothing of value themselves. Morgan and Shine acted as the sensible leaders, but most of the challenges are pretty self explanatory, anyone could come up with a strategy, and they're always in the same groups anyway. Ace, Sola, and Sally were just in an alliance with them and that kept them automatically safe, even if they did fuck all for the challenges.

He begrudgingly responded, "I said 'for once'. You and your little family group are no better than anyone else on the team, but apparently you guys are the judges, jury, and executioners who get to decide who stays or goes. That's totally unfair, especially since you guys barely do anything of value for the team yourselves."

Sola scoffed, dropping the toothbrush in her paw before bluntly stating, "Carson, what the fuck have _you_ even done to help the team knowingly!? We had to _remind_ you to use Sunny Day so that we didn't freeze, you failed at baseball _and_ singing, and other than that, you've practically been nonexistent! So no, you don't get to say _anything_ about how it's unfair that we control this team when Ashton is the only one in _your_ little group that does anything of value! So you might as well suck it up and deal with the fact that you're leaving soon if we end up losing this challenge. GOT IT!?"

Carson trembled in fear at the ferocity of her outburst. He floated out of the room quickly, with Sola growling in annoyance.

She went back to her side, picking up her toothbrush once again before beginning to scrub the shower cubes again, albeit much more aggressively.

 **000**

 **Carson sighed, "I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Amethyst was telling us about how she was gonna take it easy because she didn't want to ruin any relationships or feel like she owned us."**

" **Now because of me being pent up and frustrated, Sola probably hates me…"**

 **000**

" **I don't know why the fuck he decided to try and say that we don't do anything for the team when we're the ones fucking running it and keeping it afloat!" Sola snapped. "Morgan and Shine tell us what to do, I try to lighten the mood sometimes when things are looking kinda shitty** _ **and**_ **participate in challenges, and Ace and Sally act as carriers and participate, too. FOR FUCK'S SAKE, KOJO AND SALLY ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE TO DO THE MOST WORK!"**

" **Meanwhile, he just floats there unassumingly with his little friends and, out of all of them,** _ **he fails the most**_ **. Holly is smart and pretty fast, Ashton is a mixed bag with her vines and her nature in general, and even Amethyst is good at bringing up morale if they're actually doing more for the team. But Carson? No way. He's definitely going next if we lose this."**

 **000**

Summer had been in Reshiram and Zekrom's shared room ever since the challenge began. She hadn't been chosen by any of the other legendaries, and wasn't interested in just sitting around waiting to be called upon, so she just walked with the large crowd until she noticed Zekrom depart from the group and fly up to his room. He noticed that Reshiram did the same, departing from her group as the challenge started as a whole. Once she was out of the line of sight from her team, she had ascended the numerous stairs until making it to the floor the two stayed on.

They hadn't really done much but talk while watching their television. They had already discussed how the Total Pokemon shows were all the same stupid stuff and how most of the other legendaries are assholes. Well, mainly Typhlosion and Reshiram did, as Zekrom had fallen asleep once Reshiram got on top of him in a nonsexual sixty-nine position.

It was at this point that Summer wanted to ask a favor of the Vast White Pokemon.

Sheepishly, she started, "Hey, Reshiram…"

The large, snow-colored dragoness faced the badger with interest as she continued her request, "Uh… Do you think I can have some relationship advice?"

Reshiram rose a brow in interest, "Having trouble keeping a man?"

Summer shook her head, "No, no. Just… Advice in general. I have a boyfriend, well fiancé, and I just want to know how we can have a long lasting relationship."

Hearing that, a small smile grew on Reshiram's face. Behind Arceus and Giratina, she and Zekrom had the longest relationship out of everyone, having been together for nearly two centuries. She sat up, finding herself on Zekrom's chest. She shook his leg, causing him to groan slightly.

Zekrom's eyes flickered open and he saw that Reshiram was looking back at him with a smile. "What's up, babe?" he groggily asked.

"Well, Summer here wants some relationship advice," Reshiram explained. "She actually engaged, so she wants to know how to keep a lasting relationship."

Zekrom started shuffling, with Reshiram rising off of him momentarily. The Deep Black Pokemon sat up against their headboard before smacking Reshiram's butt, making her yelp and look at him with a blush. She took a seat in his lap, placing her arms over his as they wrapped around her.

"So, what all does she need to know?" the black drake queried.

Summer rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Well, how long have you two been together?"

Usually, the guys of the relationships were the ones who usually forgot the time frame of the relationship, but Zekrom was the one who answer, "About… 249 years now…"

Summer's mouth was agape in shock, "W- How?"

Reshiram giggled, leaning against Zekrom lovingly, "Well, Zek and I don't really have many disagreements or arguments. He knows that I only care about the truth, and I'm fine with his ideals."

"Wait, I thought you guys were born from the same dragon, meaning that you guys are brother and sister. Isn't that a bit disturbing or cause issues?"

The couple exchanged looks before looking back at her, Zekrom explained, "Technically, Kyurem, Reshi, and I were all part of the same dragon, but we _split_ up because of those humans centuries ago. So, we see ourselves more as individuals."

Summer nodded in understanding before continuing with her questions. "So, you guys have never had any disagreements or arguments about _anything_?"

"Oh, no. We have arguments, but they're usually so minor that we end up forgetting about them later," Reshiram explained, nuzzling against Zekrom. "But, just because you don't have arguments doesn't mean a relationship is going to be stable or long lasting. Communication is the main thing that needs to be focused on."

Zekrom added, "That, and you need to make sure that you still have an attraction for your partner. If you end up finding someone else more attractive, appearance wise, and you're contemplating cheating, then your relationship was never good to begin with. You look for more than beauty in a relationship.; you need to look for a good personality and similar interests. If you only care about appearance, you're doomed to jump from partner to partner."

Summer nodded, taking all of the information in. She already knew some of this information from common sense and her mother's teachings, but it was good to hear that they the info was still relevant.

Reshiram followed, "You also need to be caring enough to handle the needs of your partners. Lack of attention can lead to separation as time goes on."

Again, Summer felt that this was common sense, but she nodded in agreement.

Zekrom continued, "Essentially, all of this is common sense if you want a lasting relationship, but these days the only things people want to do is fuck and then move on to the next willing partner. It's pathetic, if you ask me."

"It really is…" Reshiram sighed in agreement. "But, we can't judge. People can do what they want."

Zekrom kissed the side of her maw. Summer smiled at the sight. Those two really loved each other; this was the type of relationship she pictured that she and Kojo would have.

Reshiram bit her lip as she shuffled a bit in his lap. She looked down at Summer, "So… Did you need anything else? Or was what we told you good enough?"

Summer recognized this tone of voice and noticed the look in the dragoness' eyes. She smirked, "No, I think I'm fine."

"Okay, then can you… Step out for a few minutes? You can come back in, but just… Give us some time."

Obliging, the Typhlosion headed toward the door before exiting, leaving the couple alone.

 **000**

 **Summer giggled, "I admit, some of their advice was pretty much self-explanatory, but I get where they're coming from. And jeez… Nearly 250 years together, hardly any disagreements or arguments, and they're still going strong?"**

" **Well, they're legendaries, so that's possible, but with bills, wanting careers, jobs, and other assholes in the world, things may prove to be a bit more difficult for us."**

 **000**

Amethyst was tasked with creating an ice sculpture in the likeness of Regirock. The Rock Peak Pokemon wanted it in the living room, so she was stuck inside. Regirock wasn't monitoring her, instead taking a nap on the living room couch.

She grumbled to herself as she continued using her ice-type capabilities to create the miniature monument. She happened to turn toward the large door that led to the kitchen and saw Aura grumbling as she entered.

Upon seeing that Regirock was on the couch, the shiny Glaceon let out a groan of annoyance. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me right now…"

Aura prepared to just lie down beside the couch, but another voice kept her from doing so, "Hey, shiny girl, you're free now right?"

Aura groaned as she saw Tornadus fly out of the kitchen, "Yeah. I made Groudon his shitty sandwich and he yelled at me because it was sm-"

The Cyclone Pokemon rolled his eyes before interrupting, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, I need you to clean Thundurus' ceiling."

Amethyst rose a brow upon hearing the request, briefly stopping her construction. Aura blinked, "Why am I scrubbing a ceiling? And how would I even-"

"No questions," Tornadus interrupted once again as he picked her up with his legs and flew out of the living room with her.

Amethyst blinked, "Well that happened…"

She continued with her task just as she saw Carson enter the kitchen with a frown on his face. A bit concerned, she ceased her sculpting and trekked into the kitchen to see what was going on with her friend, who was supposed to be scrubbing the showers.

Entering the kitchen, she saw Carson sitting against the wall, with Ashton looking at him in concern. She approached him hurriedly, "Carson, what's the matter? Why aren't you scrubbing the shower?"

The Bronze Bell Pokemon let out a sigh, "I think I made Sola hate me."

Ashton grew a bit skeptical at hearing this; Sola didn't necessarily seem like the type to really _hate_ anyone. She was Ray and Mason's sister, but that didn't mean anything. "What makes you think that?"

Carson sighed, "I… Kinda blew up at her about how she and the others are just as useless and how it's unfair that they're acting like they're in control of the team."

Amethyst and Ashton both stared at their friend in shock. Neither of them ever anticipated that _he_ would be the one to bring it up to their faces. "Carson, what exactly brought you to bring that up to her? It's pretty out of character for you to do that," Amethyst explained.

Carson looked down, "I guess I just got annoyed because she was acting like our challenge wasn't that big a deal and was just doing it without any complaint."

Ashton rose a brow, "Carson, honey. If she wasn't complaining and just focusing on the challenge, how was that a bad thing?"

"Because she was just acting nonchalant about it, like whether we won or not, she was going to be safe regardless," Carson explained before a thought entered his head. "Or… At least I think she was."

Amethyst sighed, "Well, did she say anything that made you think like that?"

Carson sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I said that I was trying to actually prove myself on the team by doing something worthwhile and not by scrubbing showers. Then, she said that it wasn't a big deal, that is was better than the other challenges and that she wanted music to speed things up."

Once again, the girls stared at him. Ashton looked confused, while Amethyst groaned, "Carson, she was talking about the challenge. Not your usefulness."

Carson sighed, "Yeah, I kinda messed up there."

Ashton took a breath, "Well, hopefully we win this challenge. It would seem that if you confronted her about that, she'd tell the others about it, resulting in _you_ going home, and while I wouldn't blame them in that case, I don't want it to happen."

Carson heard a few pops and looked toward the stove to see that a pot was overflowing with water, "Uh… Ashton, I think your water is overflowing."

Ashton turned to see that the pot with macaroni was flowing over the rim. She gasped, quickly moving the pot off of the eye. She grabbed a wooden spoon and started stirring the pasta in the pot, making sure that she didn't accidentally overcook it. Taking out a noodle from the pot, she blew on it before using one of her vines to lift the noodle up to her mouth.

She ate it, but due to the rubberiness of it, she sighed. "Great. I overcooked them. Now I have to start over…"

"AMAURA GIRL! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND FINISH MY SCULPTURE!" a voice boomed from the living room.

Amethyst sighed in annoyance, "Great… _Now_ he's awake. I'll talk to you guys after the challenge."

She started walking back to the living room, leaving Ashton alone with Carson. The Meganium didn't have much to say to her bell friend; he had practically dug himself into a grave that only pure luck would get him out of.

Carson gazed thoughtfully at Ashton as she looked into the pantry once again, "Ashton, how are you always so well composed?"

Ashton hummed questioningly, "What do you mean? I just act normally."

Carson immediately caught himself, as this was similar to how things went for him and Sola, "N-Nevermind."

Ashton rose a brow as he started floating away, before continuing to grab a box of pasta noodles.

 **000**

" **I don't really have any comments regarding Carson's situation," Ashton explained. "He said what he said and he be going home for it. It's sad, but that's just how this game works."**

 **000**

Sally was inside of Dialga's room, having had to polish the Temporal Pokemon's collection of hourglasses and snow globes. It was an idiotic task in her opinion, but she did it regardless. And, luckily for her, Dialga wasn't that much of an asshole. She was actual pretty sensible and good with casual conversation, so the interactions made the task go by quickly.

"Alright, so your man is a hunk , you live in a decent-sized house, and you're the standard nice girl," Dialga recapped. "Sounds like the average love story to me…"

The Ampharos shrugged, "Yeah, but when we first started, things were pretty fast, he was more of a loner type, and I was shy."

Dialga nodded, "Yeah, it's a bit of a cliché. Nice girl tries to fix loner guy with no friends and ends up getting in a relationship with him. But, I guess I can't really speak on clichés considering Palkia and I started off as enemies that wanted each other dead. Then, after a while, we started to get along and we got together."

Sally nodded in understanding. Dialga chuckled, "So, you two planning on having kids?"

Sally blushed, "It's been in the back of my mind. We're just waiting for now."

Dialga replied, "I can understand that, I suppose."

Just then, a knock was heard on the door before it opened, revealing Palkia. "Hey babe," he greeted, holding two liquid-filled glass bottles."

Dialga smiled to herself as Palkia walked over to the bed and took a seat beside his girlfriend. The Spatial Pokemon planted a kiss on her lips before placing the bottles on their nightstand.

The steel dragoness rose a brow, "Where's your assistant?"

Palkia shrugged, "Meh. I don't really care about that. I don't have anything for them to do and I'm too lazy to care."

Sally placed one last snow globe on a shelf before sighing in relief, "Well, that's done. Anything else?"

Dialga hummed, looking around her room. Everything seemed to be in order inside of the room. With the snow globes and hourglasses polished, she had nothing else for Sally to do. "Yeah, I think that's it. You're free to go."

Sally sighed in relief before starting to walk toward the door. However, Palkia cleared his throat, getting her attention as they turned to face him.

"You realize that going back out there will only mean that you'll deal with someone that's more of an asshole, right? So, you're better off staying here."

Hearing that, the Ampharos sighed. The water drake was correct in that sense. If she went out there, she'd probably get called upon by another waiting legendary. She moved away from the door.

"Yeah… So you might as well just stay here and act as our butler," Palkia chuckled. Sally groaned in annoyance.

 **000**

Tapu Koko had chosen Titan as his assistant, mainly due to him also being an electric-type as well. They were currently in Tapu Bulu's room, with Tapu Koko raiding his pastry fridge. Titan was holding a sack that Tapu Koko told him to make out of Electroweb.

They had already raided Mewtwo's room and Guzzlord's room, and this was their third stop. Titan was still confused as to why they were stealing food from the other rooms. Tapu Koko just gave him the directions and told him not to question his methods.

"And… Done," Tapu Koko proclaimed as he dumped a couple of eclairs into the electric bag. Dusting off his hands, he sneered, "Good job, Aussie… You've proved yourself useful…"

Titan was still confused, but replied, "Uh… Thanks. And why exactly did we just go through all of this?"

Tapu Koko gave him a look as they headed toward the Melemele Guardian's room, "I thought I said not to question my methods."

"Aren't ya done with what you wanted?"

Tapu Koko thought about it momentarily before smirking, "Actually, I am. So… Fuck off."

The island guardian shut the door in the Galvantula's face, making him groan in annoyance. "Arceus, I hate these legendaries…"

He started walking toward the slide, looking over the large balcony. He saw that a few of his fellow competitors were finishing up their tasks and either waiting on the ground floor or heading into the kitchen.

He slid down the large slide, heading to the living room to wait for the next legendary. Walking through the kitchen, he noticed that Ashton was stirring tomato sauce. An idea popped into his head as he saw her move away for a moment to check the pantry.

He quickly scuttled up to the pot before spinning a long, electric thread and placing it into the pot. With her still distracted, he noticed that a piece of the floor was chipped, and as such, picked it up and tossed it into the sauce. He had to use the wooden spoon to push his added ingredients down and stirred it momentarily before placing the spoon back in place.

He scurried toward the living room as Ashton turned back around with an unopened package of salt and pepper, already packaged in the shakers.

 **000**

" **Long strand of electric webbing and a chunk of the floor. Probably not gonna do much to whoever she's cooking for, but I can hope," Titan explained.**

 **000**

"Hmm. Not half bad," Kyogre commended as Shine completed her task, finally.

The Sun Pokemon was lying down, panting slightly from the amount of work she had to so. Kyogre had told her that she could only use her psychic-type capabilities to clean _half_ of her pool, the other half had to be completely scrubbed by her own paws.

The orca commented, "I don't see why those wusses were so afraid of you. You're literally just a housewife. Just because your husband is apparently 'vicious', it doesn't mean you're as strong as him or have the same capabilities. You're probably just there as a fuck toy and to clean and make the food like all housewives."

The Espeon growled, getting to her feet before snapping at the legendary, "Kiss my fucking ass! First of all, you can keep your thoughts about my husband to yourself. You don't know him _or_ me! Secondly, I'm as strong as I feel like I _need_ to be! Thirdly, I'd rather be a fuck toy than get absolutely no action at all like you! And lastly, being a housewife doesn't make you any less than a woman! So, you can take your shitty little opinions and shove them in your smelly, unused cunt!"

The pink feline stormed out of the pool area, with Kyogre unamused by her response. She rolled her eyes before noticing that a corner of the pool was still a _tad_ bit black in coloration. "Hey, rat! You missed a spot!"

 **000**

" **It's females like her that make me have to hold myself back. I was tempted to wring her body dry,** _ **but**_ **that wouldn't do me any good, now would it?" Shine asked rhetorically. "These bitches need to learn to keep their irrelevant opinions to themselves, especially if they know nothing about what they're talking about."**

 **000**

After storming out of the pool area, Shine headed back to the lobby area. Following her experience with Kyogre, the Espeon was most definitely not looking toward to the next task. On the way back, she ended up running into Morgan, who looked a bit exhausted. She was panting, and her fur was especially glossy from perspiration.

The disgruntled Espeon took a moment to compose herself before greeting, "Hey, Morgan."

The Persian nodded in greeting as she walked past her. Shine rose a brow, "You okay?"

The Classy Cat Pokemon sighed, "Yeah. I'm just tired. Lugia and Ho-Oh have me running back and forth delivering messages because Lugia doesn't want to talk to Ho-Oh face-to-face."

Shine rolled her eyes, "Typical…"

Morgan nodded, "Basically, Ho-Oh wants to have a one night stand with Lugia, but Lugia likes Thundurus and thinks Ho-Oh is an arrogant prick. Ho-Oh suggested a threesome, Lugia called him a pervert, he reminded him that she was the one who happily screwed Tornadus, Keldeo, and Mew at the same time a decade ago, Lugia told him to go fuck himself, and now I have to relay to her that Ho-Oh called her a slut…"

Shine shook her head, "And people call _us_ oversexual…"

Morgan let out a sigh, "Well, I gotta get going. Hopefully this ends soon…"

Shine nodded in agreement before continuing toward the lobby.

Morgan was heading back toward the lobby in order to climb up the stairs and get back to the Diving Pokemon's room. Entering the room, one could see a large waterfall stretching across the back wall. The psychic- and flying-type was sitting in the middle of it, directly across from her television, which was displaying a fashion show.

The Persian entered the room with a groan. Seeing her, Lugia faced her, "Well?"

Morgan lied down near the door, replying, "He called you a slut…"

Lugia twitched, "You've gotta love that fucking logic. I _won't_ have sex with him, _and_ said that I already like someone else, and yet I'm a slut."

Morgan shrugged, "That happens. If horny guys don't get what they want, they resort to name-calling. Happened to me a couple of times and my hubby didn't take it so well."

Lugia rose a brow in interest, "Oh really?"

Morgan nodded, "Yeah, some pricks tried to flirt with me while I was at the grocery store, I told them that I was happily married, they said that my 'so-called husband obviously wasn't fucking me right' because I was still walking normally, I told them to fuck off, they were persistent and started following me, my husband came around the corner and he heard the words 'fucking slut' from one of their mouths, and he ripped them both new ones…"

Lugia rolled her eyes, "Well, you can tell Ho-Oh that he's really desperate since he's taking shit about me."

Morgan sighed as she started exiting the room again.

 **000**

Fez adjusted a piece of hay that was inside of Articuno's nest, "And there…"

The Unfezant had just finished straightening up the Freeze Pokemon's room as she watched. Her room was average sized, as big as it needed to be for a girl her size. Her nest, which was made out of a combination of hay, mattress cushions, pillow stuffing, and a couple of twigs, and frozen, was fixed up to be a bit neater. Everything was arranged in such a way that the center of the nest was the most comfortable.

Her floor, which was completely icy, looked very smooth, as opposed to the cracked and rugged feel that it once had. Her television hung on the wall, next to a shelf full of DVDs, instead of sitting against the wall across from her nest. Her nightstand was cleared off and still locked.

Looking around, Articuno hummed, "It looks decent enough."

Fez sighed in relief, "That's good."

Articuno rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, you can leave now. I have some personal matters to attend to in here."

Fez didn't hesitate as he flew toward the door, "Gladly."

Exiting the ice- and flying-type's room, he looked around happily as he flew toward the living room. In doing so, he accidentally bumped into a certain someone who was also heading into the living room.

Lassie grunted as the Proud Pokemon bumped into her. She growled, turning around to see Fez shaking his head to recuperate himself. He saw who he had bumped into and sheepishly chuckled, "Uh… Hey there Lassie. Um… How was your time in Groudon's room?"

The Snow Land Pokemon tightened her glare at the Unfezant. This, in turn, made Fez sigh, "Nevermind."

Lassie floated into the living room, where she saw Titan, Klavier, Aura, and Aspen sitting on the couch. She sighed as she floated to the couch and slumped next to Titan. "These legendaries are fucking pricks…"

Klavier responded, "Well, not all of them. Some of them are actually cool."

Aura deadpanned, "There are more assholes than chill ones."

Titan explained, "Tapu Koko literally had me follow him around as he stole food from other people's rooms."

Aspen hummed, "I'd say that my conversations with the ladies were pretty cool. We just talked out how we think relationships should work, what former partners did that pissed us off, and what we like to do in our spare time. It was pretty interesting, and I have to say, the relationship issues are aplenty…"

Lassie huffed, "I'm not surprised at all, given how the males around here behave. I'd say that less than ten of them actually know how to treat women right _and_ how to handle relationships."

Aspen sighed, "Hmm… Based on our conversations, I'd say that it's a correct estimate. Rayquaza, Giratina, Palkia, Heatran, Terrakion, Zekrom, Landorus, Mewtwo, and Solgaleo. That's nine."

Aura, hearing that info, rolled her eyes, "I wish our conversations weren't usually centered around relationships. I'm starting to get annoyed by it thanks to these guys."

Fez flew in, perching himself on the arm of the couch, "Well, when there's not much to talk about other than strategy and each other, things get scarce and repetitive. And since there are still _single_ people, or those facing relationship issues, those things are gonna be brought up more often."

"I like how you emphasized single as if it means anything to us," Lassie stated. "I'm not looking, Titan's married, Klavier and Aspen are taken, and I don't think Aura's looking either."

Fez gave her a look of annoyance, "All I did was give a reason as to why the conversations about relationships are common."

Lassie countered, "Nobody asked for the reason. Aura just said it was annoying, so you didn't need to say anything."

Fez shook his head, "I'm gonna go find something else to do. I'm not just gonna be berated over nothing…"

With him flying off, the others turned toward Lassie in confusion.

 **000**

" **I apologize for a drunken mistake and she still treats me like public enemy number one," Fez growled. "Well fuck her. If she wants to continue to be a bitch even though I've made no advances toward her besides that one time, then that's on her."**

 **000**

" **You people may think I'm being too hard on Fez, but think about it. If someone that you had no interest in came onto you and forced you to kiss, would you be quick to forgive?" Lassie queried. "It doesn't matter if he was drunk or not. It's still sexual assault."**

 **000**

Ace was currently outside with Volcanion, who had a huge box of fireworks next to him. The Sylveon was tied to a huge firecracker, looking rather petrified, while Volcanion hummed to himself.

The Intertwining Pokemon had been acting like a test subject to Volcanion's homemade fireworks and firecrackers. He had numerous of the small firecrackers blow him up and burn his paws, and had fireworks shot at him and almost cause more burns.

"W-Why are you using me like this?"

Volcanion gave the obvious answer, "Because I can. Duh… It's you guys' challenge to do what we say. Now, if you'd stop complaining."

Ace thought to himself for a moment, maybe if he could engage the Steam Pokemon in conversation, it could buy him some time so that the torture would stop. He was dating a fire-type, sure, but he was never intentionally burned other than in their season together. So, out of desperation, he stuttered, "Uh… S-So what helped you realize that you were gay?"

Volcanion growled at the mention of his sexuality. He was _definitely_ going to get Necrozma back for that. "That's none of your business."

Ace was onto something, following up with, "Oh come on. You're a pretty husky guy and your mannerisms make you seem uber straight."

Volcanion forced a smile, which turned into a frown mid-sentence, "Thanks for the compliment, now shut the fuck up."

Ace continued, "Look, I understand your situation. You don't want to accept the fact that you're gay and deal with the stereotypes and other bullshit that go along with it. My own father beat the dogshit out of me when he found out I wasn't straight, and the abuse continued for a long time."

Volcanion growled, "For the love of Arceus, SHUT THE FUCK UP! I accepted that I'm gay years ago and I don't care about your abuse story!"

Ace flinched as Volcanion snapped, "I've taken it, given it, taken and given it at the same time. So, keep your fucking mouth shut and learn to stay in your place!"

The fire- and water-type blasted a Flamethrower at the fuse of the firecracker that Ace was attached to, lighting it. Ace gasped, "Please! You've used so many on me! This could kill me!"

Volcanion rolled his eyes, "You're immortal like the rest of us. You'll be fine…"

The firecracker exploded, blasting the Sylveon into through the wall of the enormous building. Volcanion chuckled to himself, "Needs more gunpowder."

 **000**

" **I hate my life…" Ace whimpered, covered in cuts and bruises.**

 **000**

Ace was blasted into the showers, trembling and whimpering under rubble from the wall and dirty towels from the basket near the back.

Sola, having still been scrubbing the showers, jumped from the explosion. Seeing Ace under the rubble, she gasped, "Ace!"

She quickly rushed toward him, moving the rubble and dirty towels in order for him to get up. She nudged him, causing him to flinch.

She saw Volcanion approach the hole and growled, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"

Ignoring her, Volcanion eyed Ace, "Hey, fairy boy. You're done, by the way."

He walked away, with Sola growling furiously. She nudged Ace once again, attempting to help him get to his feet. The Sylveon trembled as he got to his feet.

Sola queried, "Are you okay?"

Ace growled to himself, his voice a bit strained from the pain in his chest, "Yeah. I'm fine."

He attempted to walk, but he felt a bit of pain in his chest and his left paw felt like jelly. He whimpered as he tried to put pressure on the injured paw, only to nearly fall on his face.

Seeing this, Sola shook her head, "No you're not, your paw is sprained."

Ace shakily stood up, keeping his left paw elevated. He let out a sigh of annoyance, "Great. Now I'm gonna be useless if another one of these psychotic fucks decides to choose me for something."

Sola, not going to stand for this, gazed toward the exit, "You know what? Fuck this. Tapu Lele's one of the nonsensical ones, so they're not gonna ask her for a score. So, come on."

Ace rose a brow, "You sure?"

Sola allowed him to climb onto her back and she proceeded to exit the showers, no longer caring about the challenge.

 **-000-**

Going out to the lobby, Sola and Ace saw that a fair amount of their team members were there already. Most of them looked either annoyed or exhausted. The only ones absent at that point were Ashton, Kojo, Morgan, Connor, and Holly.

Upon seeing Ace and Sola approach, Shine's eyes widened upon seeing Ace's bruised and scratched form, "OMA, what happened!?"

Ace huffed, sliding off of Sola's back with a wince, "Volcanion and his stupid fireworks. He blasted me through the wall with a firecracker."

Amethyst groaned, "Just more proof that these legendaries are shitty."

Taylor growled in agitation, "I swear if that Hoopa bitch hurts my Connor, I'll-"

A scream cut off the Milotic's concerns. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

A ring appeared above them all, near the ceiling, with their Bouffalant friend falling from it. Taylor gasped in fear, "Connor!"

Just as the Bouffalant was about to hit the ground another ring appeared below him, causing him to fall into it, making him disappear again.

"What the hell is going-"

Connor's screamed continued to fill the air as he was flung from ring to ring. Taylor twitched as he watched his boyfriend was flung around.

Carson, watching this, grew rather frightened, "Uh… This seems wrong."

Sola glared at him in an instant, making him swallow in nervousness.

Eventually, Connor's screaming ended as he found himself landing on Ace, who let out a whimper of pain.

Cackling was heard as Hoopa made her presence known, "Excellent!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Sola snapped as Taylor moved Connor from Ace's back.

The Mischief Pokemon vanished without a word, making the Absol growl as she helped Ace up once again. Amethyst gained an idea, turning to Carson, "Hey Carson, do you know Heal Bell?"

She believed that if Carson could help Ace and Connor feel better, maybe Sola's annoyance would settle down. Carson groaned, "Um… No."

Amethyst blinked in response.

 **000**

 **The Amaura groaned, "It was worth a shot…"**

 **000**

Marion popped her back as she floated into the living room, groaning from what Regice had her do. Being the only Regi that didn't actually speak, he communicated with gestures and blinks of yellow light. Due to this, Marion had to guess and attempt to understand what he wanted her to do.

She moved numerous heavy boxes, was crushed by a bunch of ice, had to set up his television, and polish his entire body. Her hands were trembling and burning from the freezing temperature.

She shuddered as she sat next to Lassie, "Never again…"

"What'd they have _you_ do?" Aspen queried.

Marion groaned, recalling what she had been through, "Regice. Well, first of all, the guy didn't use words _at all_! I had to move a bunch of heavy ass boxes into his room. His ceiling is made of ice and had icicles hanging, so I kept getting hit by them as they fucking fell, and a whole portion of his ceiling fell on me afterwards."

Klavier smacked his lips, "Well… That sucks."

Marion let out a sarcastic chortle, "Oh, no, there's more. I had to try and penetrate his damn wall so that I can hook up his television, which apparently hadn't been done earlier. And then… He made me polish him. Essentially, I had to give him a fucking sponge bath with extremely cold water!"

Everyone hissed in displeasure.

The Banette sighed, resting her head back against the couch. "What about you guys?"

Lassie replied, "Some of us went through annoyance and hell, while Klavier and Aspen had conversations. So… Pretty unfair experiences..."

Titan huffed, "How much longer is this shitty challenge? I really just want to go to bed, and it's probably not even evening, yet!"

Aura spoke up, "Hey, let's just be glad that those pricks aren't coming back for more of us."

There was silence as they all turned to Aura, who looked confused.

"I _sincerely_ hope that you didn't just jinx us," Lassie commented.

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed from the kitchen, "THIS TASTES LIKE SHIT!"

 **000**

Ashton flinched as Latios yelled at her. He, Regirock, Volcanion, Tapu Bulu, and Darkrai either held or pushed away their bowls of pasta, having come in to try their dinner beforehand.

Volcanion complained, "The sauce is fucking disgusting! What'd you do, stick your cooch inside of it?!"

Tapu Bulu seemed to be content with his meal, shrugging his shoulders, "Tastes fine to me."

Regirock gave him a look, "Bulu, all you eat is sweets, your taste buds are probably enhanced by now."

The Land Spirit Pokemon shrugged his shoulders, "My point still stands."

Darkrai reached into his bowl and pulled out a long yellow thread, "What the hell is this supposed to be? A prize?"

Ashton's eyes widened, "I don't know how that got in there."

Latios scoffed, "Sure. We're treating you all 'poorly', so you decide to poison or taint the food."

Ashton gaped, "What!?" She'd never try to poison anyone, even if she had a strong dislike of them. It was simply preposterous.

Regirock grunted, "Don't play dumb. You're lucky that it was just us."

They all dropped their bowls on the floor, causing them to shatter and make a mess. The only one who hadn't dropped their bowl was Tapu Bulu, which promptly changed when Darkrai swatted the bowl from his hands.

"Now clean up the mess, bitch," Latios replied before floating over to the pot of pasta on the stove and throwing it off, splattering the food on the floor.

Ashton looked down dejectedly as Volcanion, Darkrai, Regirock, and Latios started to leave, while Tapu Bulu floated toward Ashton and pat her head before picking up the pot and placing it back on the stove.

The four that were leaving soon found themselves faced with angry members of the Lugias, who heard the outburst from the kitchen and came over to see what was being said and done. Seeing that they were accusing Ashton and making her clean up a mess that they purposely made. Suffice to say, they were pissed.

Volcanion deadpanned,"Out of the way, losers… Unless you want more."

In response, Shine's eyes glowed, lifting Latios, Volcanion, and Regirock, while Darkrai was left untouched due to his immunity. However, Connor took care of that, as his horns glowed a green color and he rammed into Darkrai, knocking him into a wall.

Ace sneered, "Now, let's see how _you_ like being hurt."

The still conscious legendaries exchanged nervous looks. Despite him being part psychic-type, Latios still couldn't break free of the Sun Pokemon's grasp. He swallowed in nervousness as all of the players there glared at them with dark smirks.

 **000**

Holly, after disposing of Moltres' embarrassing photos, and preening her feathers, flew by Phione's playroom, where she saw that Marie was holding Phione, trying to get her to stop crying, while Anthony was shaking one of her stuffed Buneary in her face to try and calm her down.

Surprisingly enough, the Sea Drifter Pokemon's ear-piercing crying wasn't being let out due to the door of the room being closed. Apparently they'd soundproofed it. Thinking that she could help, despite them being on the opposing team, she hesitantly opened the door, allowing an ear-splitting cry to echo throughout the hall.

Holly swiftly flew in and shut the door before emitting heart-shaped waves from her nose. They hit Phione, who slowly started to stop crying. She sniffled in Marie's arms before reaching for Holly, who was surprised, but took her anyway, holding her by her arms.

Anthony huffed, "Why are _you_ here?"

Marie elbowed him for his rude response before speaking on her own, "What he means is… Why did you help us if you're on the other team? I mean, we could have handled her ourselves."

"Scary fish people!" Phione cried, waving Marie and Anthony away.

The couple exchanged looks before sighing, with Anthony claiming, "Well, that explains it."

Holly giggled, allowing Phione to swing on her legs, "Don't worry, I'm sure that if you two ever decide to have children of your own, they won't be afraid. Unless you raise them to be afraid, of course."

A small smile grew on Marie's face as Anthony placed an arm around her and kissed her cheek.

"Come on, let's play!" Phione said, dragging the bat down to the floor with a few jerking motions.

Holly was a bit hesitant, as this wasn't her task, "Oh, uh… Okay, sure."

Marie and Anthony exchanged looks of unsurety, not knowing if Holly being there would ruin their chance at a good score. Worried about this, Anthony spoke up, "Hey Holly, no offense, but I don't think you should be here. You may end up ruining our chance since you're on the other team."

Holly nodded in understanding, "Oh, okay. I get that." She turned to Phione, "Sweetheart, I've gotta go now."

Phione's lip quivered, "Nooooo! Why can't _they_ leave? They're ugly and smelly!"

Anthony growled, "Hey, you little!"

Marie held her arm out, keeping her man back, "It's fine, Tony. She can complain all she wants, because whether she likes us or not, we have to handle her until this challenge is over."

Phione pouted as Holly flew toward the door, exiting the room.

 **-000-**

Holly flew toward the lobby, and saw that Latios, Regirock, Darkrai, and Volcanion were all unconscious and the others had satisfied looks on their faces. She looked a bit perturbed as she flew over in curiosity.

"Uh… Do I want to know?"

"Oh, hey Holly," Sola greeted. "And no, you don't. Just know that they deserved it."

"Riight," Holly nodded. "So, are we all good now?"

Morgan panted as she walked out of Lugia's room and collapsed next to the others. They all looked at the Persian worriedly.

"I hope so," Shine opined.

 **000**

While the contestants dealt with the other legendaries, Virizion and Xerneas had taken Mew up to Solgaleo's room, sitting him at the foot of the Sunne Pokemon's bed.

"So, uh… Solgaleo. How do you feel?"

The large lion gazed at her indifferently, "Virizion, you've asked me that seven times now and my answer still hasn't changed."

Virizion gave him a sheepish smile, "Uh… S-Sorry. I'm not that good at this."

"We can tell," Entei deadpanned, lying bedside of the depressed Sunne Pokemon. "Why did you even decide to bring Mew in here in the first place? He's out cold. Why couldn't you just leave him in bed?"

Xerneas gave him a look, explaining, "Because he's pretty much going through a depression as well, which is why he did this in the first place."

"Ah yes, bring one depressed person into a room with another one, that'll surely fix things," Entei sarcastically chided.

Solgaleo groaned in annoyance, "Entei, quit it. They just care about Mew, they can stay if they want. I honestly don't care. You just want me to yourself, which I've told you again and again, isn't helping me…"

Entei leaned up and planted a kiss on his lips, causing Solgaleo to blush. The lion growled, "And I told you to stop doing that…"

Entei chuckled, nuzzling him, "You know you love having me around."

Solgaleo rolled his eyes before seeing that the girls were smiling at him and Entei. "Why are you two smiling like that?"

Virizion giggled, "Because you guys are so cute."

Solgaleo huffed, "Don't know what's cute about being sexually harassed…"

Entei stifled a laugh, "Sexual harassment? Please, you know you like me. No one has showed interest in you here besides me and Suicune, and Suicune is _not_ an option at all."

Solgaleo grumbled to himself, a faint blush on his face. Entei winked at the white lion while licking his lips, making him twitch and roll onto his opposite side.

Seeing this, Entei smiled lovingly at him before turning back to the girls, his mood a bit calmer now, "So what is Mew so 'depressed' about? At least his second season wasn't cancelled and his show is actually one of the more tolerable ones that are still going on."

Xerneas sighed as she began her explanation,"Well, he has all of the years dealing with _Victini_ as a co-host, being forced to continue a series that he wants to end, and having some of the contestants think that he's boring or he needs to make sure that _everything_ is completely safe."

Entei rose a brow, "I don't really see how that causes depression. I mean, I understand it, and I'm completely happy that our show got canned, but that just doesn't seem like something to be depressed over. Victini is a jackass, sure, but we _all_ have to deal with him, so that eliminates that reason."

"Victini was one of the ones that talked shit about Solgaleo, which lead to his depression," Virizion replied.

"He just added onto it, he wasn't a cause," Entei replied. "Now, being forced to continue a series. His show is debatably the most popular one out of all of us. Really, if he wants a damn break so bad, all he has to do is have you two be hosts from now on. You guys are practically a staple of their series now, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Plus, the viewership of the show grows when you two are on, so you could practically bring them higher ratings. And then, he could come back whenever."

The girls exchanged looks. That _was_ a valid solution, but the issue would lie in that people who watched the show since it began would clamor for Mew and Victini back in an instant.

Entei continued, "And lastly, the contestants' opinions of him. Who the hell gives a fuck about what they think? _They_ are the ones competing, _he_ is one of the hosts, and these damn shows have _always_ dealt with crazy challenges. Just because Victini's out of commission, which has happened in other seasons, that doesn't mean that the challenges immediately get PG. And I actually find it hilarious how none of your other contestants in other seasons cared that much about challenge difficulty, but all of these guys do. It's pretty pathetic…"

The girls, hearing all of these explanations, grew small smiles. Now they had a few ideas on how they could make the show better and help out Mew.

 **000**

Phill was back inside of Terrakion's room, cleaning off the objects in the closet. He was fascinated by the sizes, shapes, and textures of the devices.

He held a large, ten incher with bumps around it, "Just… How?"

Heatran stammered, as a blush appeared on her face, "L-Let's not talk about that, huh? Just clean them, please."

Phill shrugged, "Hey, if you have me cleaning them, you should expect me to ask questions."

Virizion's voice soon echoed from outside the door, "ALL CONTESTANTS REPORT BACK TO THE LOBBY! THE CHALLENGE IS OVER!"

Terrakion and Heatran sighed in relief. Phill smacked his lips, "Oh well, looks like our time is over."

"Yep. You can leave now," Terrakion urged, walking to the door to open it, allowing the Raticate to exit.

 **000**

Everyone had returned back to the lobby, legendaries included. A majority of the competitors were completely peeved, while the legendaries looked either angry, bored, or amused.

"Alright," Virizion started, "I'm sure that all of you contestants had an awful time dealing with some of these guys, and our apologies once again."

Hoopa interrupted, "Hey, they're all still alive…"

Ace barked, "BARELY!"

"Now, let's get these scores," Xerneas stated. "Let's get… Palkia, Terrakion, and Zekrom for the Ho-Ohs, and… Jirachi, Reshiram, and Tapu Bulu for the Lugias."

Volcanion growled, "Oh come on! Those bitches beat us up and they're still gonna end up getting a good score? Jirachi didn't even participate!"

Jirachi shrugged, "I honestly couldn't care less. They'll get a 5 from me since this was fucking stupid, and I didn't get to see these idiots get their asses handed to them."

"Oh come on!" Amethyst whined.

Virizion blinked, "Okay, I guess we're starting with the Lugias… So far, that's 5 points. Reshiram?"

Reshiram hummed, "Um… I didn't really participate either, but… I did talk to one of you, though they were on the other team. But, hearing how the idiots got the shit kicked out of them makes me give the other team a 7."

Xerneas nodded, "Okay, so far that's 12 for the Lugias. Tapu Bulu, what about y-"

"7," he answered immediately, not really caring about the scoring.

Virizion blinked, "Alright then. That's 19 for the Lugias. Now, how about for the Ho-Ohs? Palkia?"

Palkia shrugged, "Eh, kinda like Reshiram. Didn't really participate, but still had a pretty decent time with a person on the other team. So… I'll just give them a 6."

Xerneas rose a brow, "Uh… Okay?" She turned to Terrakion, "How about you, Terrakion?"

The Cavern Pokemon blushed a bit, "Uh… Well, it was bit awkward with our helper, but he was still a pretty cool dude, so… I guess I'll give him an 8."

"Okay, so far that's 14 for the Ho-Ohs," Virizion recapped. "And Zekrom, what about you?"

The Deep Black Pokemon shrugged, "Pretty much had the same experience as Reshi, so I'll give the team a 7, too."

Xerneas nodded, "And that brings the Ho-Ohs' score to 21, meaning that the they are winners of today's challenge!"

The Ho-Ohs cheered, while the Lugias growled in anger.

Taylor argued, "Oh come on! This was unfair! You chose people who didn't even participate with the right people or even at all!"

Virizion deadpanned, "And considering that you and the others on your team kicked the shit out of some of them, would you really trust them to give you a high score?"

The Lugias remained silent at that point, as she had a point.

Xerneas nodded, "Now, to get back to the island. Uh, Celebi, could you?"

The onion fairy rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

All of the contestants, along with Xerneas and Virizion, were teleported out from the hall.

 **000**

" **Well, considering all that was said, I think it's obvious who needs to kick rocks," Sola stated sternly.**

 **000**

The Lugias were sitting in their usual places at the elimination ceremony. With Mew still sleeping, there were no treats to award those that were staying.

Virizion nodded, "Okay, you guys know the drill by now. And sorry, with Mew out of commission, there are no marshmallows this time."

"Darn it!" Ace growled, having been healed by Ashton using Aromatherapy. "I thought there'd be at least _one_ thing good about today."

"Yeah, sorry again," Xerneas replied. "But on the bright side, you're safe."

Ace let out a sigh of relief.

Virizion followed, "And along with you, Shine, Sally, Kojo, Taylor, Connor, Holly, Morgan, Ashton, and Amethyst are also safe."

All those that were called let out sighs of relief.

Xerneas glanced at the final two and let out a sigh, "Sola and Carson, I'll be honest, and this isn't meant to offend you, but I could see either one of you going tonight. Neither of you completed Tapu Lele's task from the looks of it, and your team participation records are rather… Average or below average."

The two of them exchanged looks.

"But, nevertheless, the one going home tonight is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...Carson. Sola, you're safe."

Sola let out a sigh of relief before giving Carson a toothy grin. The bell groaned, "I kinda expected that. With her little clique in charge, everyone else that's not them will be picked off super easy every time we lose. But, I'll admit, it was kinda fun _and_ sucky to be brought back."

Virizion smiled, "Well, good to know that you aren't going to be bitter about this."

Ashton, Holly, and Amethyst went up to hug their friend, while Sola rolled her eyes and the others exchanged wary glances.

 **000**

 **Taylor hummed, "Hmm… Carson's right. Connor and I need to ally with the girls before those losers pick us off one by one. There's five of them and there's six of us. The only wild card in this would be Kojo, but he's not aligned with anyone. A bit of convincing should do the trick."**

 **000**

" **Well, this is going to be** _ **very**_ **interesting now," Kojo opined, his arms folded. "With me being the only one not in an alliance, they'll end up coming to me asking for vote help. It's gonna get** _ **really**_ **annoying** _ **really**_ **fast, but… As long as I make it further in the game, I'm fine with whatever."**

 **000**

Carson floated toward the elimination device, looking at it hesitantly. He laughed sheepishly, "So, uh… This thing doesn't hurt, right?"

The girls exchanged looks before Virizion shrugged, saying, "I mean… It's a long drop driven by suction, so it really shouldn't."

Carson blinked in disbelief, "Okay, uh… Just checking."

He floated into the doors of the device before being dropped, screaming the entire way down.

Xerneas sighed, "Welp, there's only seven more eliminations before we hit the merge. Who do you think is going next?"

Virizion hummed in thought, "Hmm, I'm not entirely sure. For the Ho-Ohs, I'm betting Fez most definitely. However, for the Lugias, it's a bit harder to pinpoint given how divided they all are. But, I'm gonna guess… Maybe Morgan, if they're smart enough to take out a leader."

Xerneas shrugged, "It could happen."

Virizion nodded, "Yeah. And hopefully Mew will be better and listen to us so that he stops feeling like shit. The show must go on!"

Xerneas turned to the cameras, "Anyways, that's it for tonight's episode. Who's gonna go next? Tune in next time to find out on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!"

Virizion giggled, "Wow, it sounds weird when you do that."

Xerneas blushed, "I just wanted to try it out instead of just having the usual fade ou-"

 **000**

 **And there we have it, Carson is gone, and he may have started a storm with his departure. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**

 **000**

 **Carson: Read and leave a review, please.**


	23. Wreck, Construct, Wreck!

**Announcer: Last time on Total Pokemon: Underdogs, with Mew off his rocker, the contestants were brought to the Hall of Origins in order to serve the other legendaries in the meantime. As expected, most of the legendaries were complete jerks to the contestants, leading to some of them straight up beating the tar out of them out of frustration. Many lessons were learned and we ended up learning a tad bit more about a few of the contestants along the way. In the end, the Ho-Ohs finally got another victory, and the Lugias said goodbye to Carson.**

 **What will this next episode hold? Hang onto your butts to find out, here on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs!**

 **000**

 ***Intro plays***

 **000**

Titan scuttled out of the lake, whistling. He had just gone for a brisk, morning swim in order to clear his mind. A day had gone by since the last challenge and the Galvantula was feeling a bit proud of himself. Having overheard what the legendaries yelled at Ashton about, he felt that he was responsible for the chain of events that transpired after.

He shook himself in order to get the water off of him, and walked into the forest to meet up with Clay again. The EleSpider Pokemon felt very content so far, as his team had finally succeeded after yet another trilogy of failure.

He approached the same area that he and Clay usually met up in when Cramad and Annie were still there. He spit out an electrified thread at one tree before walking over to one directly across from it, attaching it to the bark. He began to weave something using these threads.

A few minutes passed by, with Clay eventually approaching the path. He scratched his chest as he made it to where Titan was. There, he saw the tarantula lying in what looked like a hammock made of yellow webbing. He was a bit confused as to why the sling was there, but decided not to question it.

Approaching it while keeping a straight face, the Sudowoodo smacked the hammock, shocking himself slightly. Feeling the hammock tremble and bounce a bit, Titan turned to see Clay rubbing the palm of his hand.

Titan greeted him, "'Sup mate. How ya doin'?"

Clay folded his arms, "I could ask you the same thing. Did you do something instinctual in the last challenge?"

Titan hummed, "I wouldn't really call it 'instinctual'. More like _opportunistic_ …"

Clay gave him a look of unamusement, folding his arms, "What did you do?"

Seeing his demeanor, Titan rolled his eyes. "It's not a problem," he replied. "All I did was plant some junk in Ashton's tomato sauce. She got called out for it, some legendaries got beat up, and their team lost."

Clay let out a sigh, "So, when you said that you were going to 'follow your instincts' and 'do what you think will be the best', you were referring to sabotage?"

Titan shrugged his pedipalps, "I just did somethin' that I felt would help the team."

Clay shook his head, "Well, if it worked for you, I guess… Keep at it. But, remember what I said before, there aren't any real threats here."

Titan rolled his eyes, "Mate, it's fine. If it helps the team or myself, I'm doin' it. Survival of the fittest."

Clay let out a sigh, "If you say so."

 **000**

" **Sabotage isn't really my type of thing," Titan explained. "It may be what it's technically referred as, but I don't see it that way. I just take care of myself and the others that work with me."**

 **000**

Sitting on top of the cliff, Phill, Klavier, Kojo, and Summer were engaging in conversation, with Phill suggesting that they all jump off of the cliff for fun.

The Raticate challenged, "Come on, guys. Where's your sense of adventure?"

Summer narrowed her eyes at the mouse, "Phill, we're literally on a crummy show that thrives on making us complete dangerous challenges . I'm pretty sure our sense of adventure is what made us sign up for this game in the first place."

Kojo added, "And I don't see how _not_ wanting to willingly jump off of a cliff means that we lack a sense of adventure. The fact that we're sitting on the edge should be enough to prove that statement false."

Phill groaned as Klavier chimed in, "What's with the certain urge to dive off the cliff?"

"Come on Klavier, didn't Tapu Fini tell you to raise your confidence and stop being so timid all the time?" Phill queried in response. "What better what to do that than to jump off of the cliff?"

Summer blinked, "That… Literally makes no sense."

Phill huffed, "Fine." He plopped on his butt, "Just wanted to do _something_ exciting around here on my own accord. These challenges are more annoying than actually exciting or fun."

Kojo chuckled, "Phill, that's been the standard for decades now. You should be used to it by now."

"I know, but still!" Phill exclaimed. "There's nothing to do around here…"

Kojo gave him a look, "Bro, what do you even do at home? When I came over, the only thing I ever saw you do is sit on your couch, watch Netflix, and eat pizza."

Phill puffed his cheeks, "Hey, you came over on Saturday. That's pizza and movie marathon day for me. During the week, I usually stay home, but on occasion I go to carnivals, the grocery store, or another region all together."

Klavier chuckled, "And what do you do in other regions?"

Phill shrugged, "Not much. I just visit, see the sights, and sleep in a hotel room."

" _Wow_ ," Summer replied sarcastically. "That sounds _really_ exciting."

The Raticate gave her a look, "And what do _you_ do at home? Girl stuff?"

The Typhlosion snickered, "Uh… Sure. If you count training, watching television, going to the club sometimes, and other things as just typical girl stuff."

Hearing the mention of a club, Kojo gained a smirk. "Oh… So you _do_ go clubbing. Good to know."

Summer shrugged bashfully, "Hey, some of my girlfriends kept convincing me to go out so that I could meet a new guy. Never worked."

Kojo sighed in relief, "Thankfully."

In response, Summer hugged him playfully before giving him a noogie. Klavier chuckled at this before taking a breath and rising up. "Well, I'm gonna go find Holly and talk to her…"

Phill gave him a thumbs up, "Hey, good luck. And remember…"

Klavier nodded, "Confidence."

The Gliscor flew down the cliff side and back toward the camp. Phill looked back over and saw that Kojo and Summer were no longer playing around, now engaged in a full makeout session. Seeing this, Phill groaned before standing up and jumping off of the cliff.

 **000**

 **Phill was now sopping wet with a few scrapes on his body, "Okay… Maybe that** _ **was**_ **a bad idea…"**

 **000**

Klavier landed outside of the Loser Cabin's girl side. He took about three deep breaths before knocking on the door.

Inside of the girls' side, Connor and Taylor were sitting against the back wall, with the other three in the bunks that they usually slept in when they lost.

Hearing the gentle knocking and noticing the silhouette, a small smile grew on Holly's face. She flew toward the door to open it, only to be stopped by Taylor.

"Hold it!" he called, causing Holly to stop mid-flight.

The Swoobat turned back to the Milotic with a confused expression. "What?"

Taylor cleared his throat before reminding her of their situation. "Er-hem! You can't just let anybody in here! We're having a meeting!"

Amethyst scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Oh calm down, Taylor. It's just her boyfriend, who's on the _other team_. You can let him in, Holly."

Taylor growled to himself, with Connor nudging him, wanting him to be cordial. The Milotic sighed. Holly opened the door, greeting Klavier with a hug.

She greeted, "Hey sweetie, what's up?"

Klavier had begun perspiring a bit while waiting for the door to open. Seeing the others inside, a blush grew on his face. He stammered, "U-uh, I was just seeing if y-you wanted to talk, o-or hang out or just… Y'know?"

Holly blushed a bit, finding his shyness adorable. She turned back to the others before looking back at the Gliscor before her. "Um… I'm kinda in the middle of a meeting right now, hon."

Klavier swallowed before smiling, "Oh, uh… Okay. Maybe later then?"

Holly nodded, "Definitely." She planted a kiss on his cheek, making the Gliscor's face flush an even deeper crimson.

"I-I'll talk to you later," Klavier stuttered as he flew away, allowing Holly to close the door.

Taylor huffed, "Jeez. The guy looked like he was about to have a stroke or something."

Holly rolled her eyes at the comment, "He's just shy. He hasn't really been around all of you that often; he's more accustomed to being with Kojo, Phill, and Summer."

Immediately, Taylor's eyes widened. He had forgotten that the Gliscor was practically best friends with Kojo. This could be their chance!

"Holly… We need Kojo's vote," Taylor explained. "You need to convince him to tell him!"

Holly gaped, "What!?"

Ashton chimed in, feeling that what Taylor was suggesting was skeevy. "Taylor, you can't ask her to do that! She wouldn't just use Klavier like that."

Holly stated, "I can't and I won't! He'll think that I'm just using him!"

Taylor groaned, "Then how the hell are we gonna get Kojo's vote? Without him, we're practically screwed!"

Holly glowered at him, "I'm _not_ gonna use my boyfriend. End of story."

The Milotic let out a sigh of annoyance, "Fine, then I guess we're boned."

Connor gave Taylor a 'really?' look, shaking his head. The solution was all too simple in his eyes, as well as Amethyst's eyes, as she had the same facial expression. The Bouffalant cleared his throat, "I think there's a much simpler solution that'll put us ahead of the others…"

Taylor's eyes widened as a smile grew on his face, "Really? What is it?!"

Connor deadpanned, "We ask Kojo to vote with us. There are literally no tricks that we have to pull and nobody to manipulate. Just ask him."

Taylor's smile turned into a frown immediately, "Okay, and what if he says no? Or he says that he will, but goes behind our backs?"

Connor sighed, "Babe… Holly is dating one of his best friends. I sincerely doubt that he'd try to make it harder for her in the game."

Amethyst nodded in agreement, "Exactly. We can have _Holly_ ask him to vote with us, and things will be perfectly fine. We'll just have to hope that the 'Friendship Five' don't get to him first."

Holly was still a bit hesitant, but agreed regardless. Ashton noticed the look of unsurety of Holly's face and grew a bit concerned.

 **000**

 **Holly sighed, "I really want to help us get further, but I don't want to have to rely on my boyfriend's friend for stability. I don't even know how Klavier will feel about it."**

" **Hopefully it's just this one time and things don't get too weird," she finished.**

 **000**

" **I don't like how things are going so far," Ashton explained. "Everyone on the team is so divided and want to do things their own way. And I don't think Holly really wants to be the one to convey the request to Kojo."**

" **I feel like things are only gonna go downhill from here."**

 **000**

Marie and Anthony were sitting on the couch in the Winner's Cabin. After the previous challenge, the two of them had been thinking about how they'd behave as parents and discussing the best course of action. Marie lied against him, with his arm resting on her side.

"So, we've got possible names covered…" Marie said. "Francine or Avery if it's a girl and… Antonio or Antoine if it's a boy…"

Anthony gave her a look, "Hey, don't judge me."

Marie scoffed, smacking his leg playfully, "No one's judging you."

Anthony grumbled to himself, with Marie giggling. Though she wouldn't verbally admit it, she really felt lucky that he was there. They still didn't know _completely_ , but with how they were acting and talking, even if she wasn't pregnant, they could very well try.

"So, I say that if it's a girl, her virginity stays intact until she's… 32…" Anthony stated.

Marie scoffed, figuring that he'd take the stereotypical dad route, "And let me guess. If it's a boy, his virginity has no boundaries."

Anthony chortled, "Oh-ho no, if anyone's gonna be fucking in our house, it's gonna be _us_. That boy's gonna have to get the fuck out or go to his girlfriend's house if he's trying to stick himself in anything."

Marie laughed at the comment, "Wow, our kids are going to _hate_ you."

Anthony shrugged, "Hey, tough love. They'll be fine. Plus, other than that, I'm gonna be pretty lax."

The Feraligatr deadpanned, "You're not gonna make me assume the role of the overbearing mother. You'd better be just as hard as them as me."

Anthony chuckled, "Hey, I'm restricting their sexual activities, what else needs to be done?"

Marie thought about it momentarily, "How about… No technology until… They're in the double digits…"

Hearing that, Anthony thought about it momentarily before rocking his head in agreement. "I guess I can agree with that. Didn't really grow up with a lot of technology myself, but still came out on top in school."

Marie smiled, kissing his cheek before rolling onto her back and lying across his lap. "Look at us. Planning how we're gonna raise our kids when we don't even know if we're pregnant or not."

Anthony chuckled before shrugging, "What can I say? It's actually pretty fun talking about this with you."

The Blastoise leaned down, planting a kiss on her lips before settling on the couch. Marie sat up in his lap before leaning back against him. The Blastoise started rubbing her stomach, with her holding a hand over his.

 **000**

" **Having to deal with Phione got us thinking more about our future," Anthony chuckled. "I'm still a bit nervous about the whole father thing, but… I can really feel the connection between us getting stronger already."**

" **Hmm… If it turns out she's not pregnant. Well, I'm gonna have to do something about that now won't I?"**

 **000**

 **Marie let out a sigh, "Okay, I can admit that Anthony and I have been a bit too preoccupied with this whole possible pregnancy thing."**

" **It's very fun to talk about these things and hear about how we'd act. But, if it turns out that I'm not pregnant, this'll be for nothing. And since it's still a possibility that I'm not, we need to focus on the game and making it further."**

 **000**

Morgan, Shine, Ace, Sola, and Sally were all back in the jail, conversing about what their next steps were in the game. With Carson gone, and what he said possibly swimming in the minds of the others, they knew that they needed to act fast if they wanted to last any longer.

The Absol was still rather ticked off that the bell had managed to still make an impact despite doing fuck all to actually help in the challenges.

Ace sighed, "Okay, so what are we gonna do now? Carson probably got the others working together now…"

"I'm not entirely sure," Shine replied. "There are eleven of us left on the team. However, there are only five of us in this alliance, leaving six of them to pick us off one by one."

"Well, technically, we don't know if they're gonna work together or not," Morgan explained. "Carson may have given them the thoughts, but that doesn't mean they'll act on them."

Sola scoffed, "Morgan, no offense, but that sounds stupid. You don't even trust Amethyst and her group. If they can get Taylor, Connor, and Kojo to vote with them, one of us can go home at any time."

Sally nodded in agreement, "She's right. We're pretty much screwed."

"Unless we switch the votes or somehow convince Kojo, of course," Shine added.

Morgan shook her head at their options, "No… We're not gonna switch the votes. Looks like we're just gonna have to somehow convince Kojo when we have the time. For now, we need to make sure that we win these challenges so that they don't have the chance."

Sola took a breath, "Well, with Carson gone, hopefully things are easier to deal with."

 **000**

Marion was inside of her room in the Winner's Cabin, fiddling with a piece of wood. The Marionette Pokemon had managed to tear up a piece of the floor in order to see if it was of good enough quality for a skateboard.

She had noticed the loose floorboard in the corner for a while, and since she was pretty bored, she decided to utilize the wooden board for a bit of entertainment. She ran a finger across the surface and felt that it was completely smooth, as it had been covered in a rich coating, which made it shine.

She felt the edges of the wood, and felt a bit of roughness. "Hmm, well this could probably mess up a lot of ankles since it's so slippery…" she said, rubbing her hand across the surface again. "But, that doesn't mean I can't try."

She vanished briefly before reappearing with a rather old skateboard. It was purple with a pink flame pattern on the underside. The paint and wood of the board were scratched and chipped due to overuse. However, despite the condition of the wood, the wheels seemed to be in decent condition.

"Alright, time to see if this works out," she said to herself as she teleported a screwdriver to her hand.

Passing by the room, Fez happened to peer into the room, seeing what the Banette was doing. The Unfezant didn't really talk to the Banette on a regular basis, but he considered her a close acquaintance due to the amount of times they've encountered each other. Added onto the fact that she had tried to ask him for an alliance a while back, _and_ she was close to Lassie, Fez definitely saw her as an ally.

He entered the room, curious as to what she was doing. Luckily, Lassie wasn't in the room, so he wouldn't have to deal with her.

"Hey Marion," he greeted.

Marion hummed, turning around to greet the bird, "Hey there, Fez." She turned back around to the boards.

Fez rose a brow, "Uh… What are you doing?"

Marion shrugged in response, "Got pretty bored, so I'm trying to see if I can make a board out of this kind of wood."

Fez nodded in understanding, "Ah, I get it. You're bored, so you're making yourself a different board."

The Banette rose a brow, giggling slightly, "Huh, wasn't really trying to make a joke out of it, but good one."

The bird gave a sheepish smile in response. He decided to watch her as she completed her short little project. Due to the silence, Marion decided to speak up a bit, "So, I heard that Lassie still hates your guts."

Fez sighed in response, "I really don't want to talk about it. If she wants to hold a drunken mistake against me, then she can. It's only gonna hurt herself."

Marion shrugged, "Well Fez, you have to see it from her point of view. She said she had no interest, right? So, you kissing her was sexual assault in her eyes. And I don't think any girl would forgive that. Now, I've tried to get you two to talk and clear the air, but I'm not gonna force it."

Fez huffed, "Well I hope she doesn't expect me to go to fucking jail over that shit. I've apologized I don't know _how_ many times, and she's still bring a bitch about it."

Marion sighed, "Like I said, not easily forgivable."

Fez groaned, "Well then what does she expect me to do? I, for one, am over her bullshit and will happily be someone that she hates. But, I don't want to be that kind of guy if there's a way to fix it."

The Banette smacked her lips, "I'm not sure what she expects you to do. I'm just sure that she wants nothing to do with you anymore."

Fez huffed, " Welp, looks like I don't have to worry about trying to making it up to her, then."

"Fez…" Marion said in a complaining tone..

"What do you want me to do?! She won't accept any of my apologies and neither of us really want to be in each other's presence," Fez explained.

The Banette gave him a look, "I'm not sure, but just accepting that isn't good."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you," Fez shrugged as he started heading back out. "Have fun with your board."

Once he left, Marion let out a sigh of disappointment. She went back to working on her skateboard, unsure of what to make of the situation anymore.

 **000**

" **Lassie doesn't want to forgive Fez, and Fez isn't gonna try anymore because of it. It's so damn frustrating!" Marion expressed. "I get both sides, but them being stubborn isn't going to help anything."**

 **000**

Mew had finally woken up and was currently staring at the ceiling of Solgaleo's room. He sighed, "Why the hell did I do that? It literally can't be that bad, can it?"

Solgaleo pat him with his tail, "Well, my condition isn't related, but I'd say no. It just sounds like an impulsive decision to me. You felt so upset and annoyed that you did something you shouldn't have."

Mew took a breath, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

Solgaleo chimed in once more, "I think you're feeling worked up and pressure from you guys' series continuing. Though, didn't you guys have a ten year break between a few of your seasons or something?"

Mew nodded, starting to think about where he was about to go with this.

Solgaleo shrugged, "Well, if I wasn't how I am, and Arceus and Giratina gave Lunala and I another season, I'd say that a few years would be a good enough time frame to recuperate. You guys did seasons almost back to back to back with just a couple of years in between."

"Yeah?"

"So, maybe the extended period got you so relaxed and nonchalant that you didn't want to do anything else. It happens to some people," the white lion explained. "Maybe you can try to find some fun in the show again and maybe you'll feel a bit better."

Mew sighed, "Well, I'm sincerely hoping that this season is our last. There's just a completely depressing atmosphere there right now and it feels weird to even go back."

"Then change it," Solgaleo shrugged. "You can't change how others feel or behave, but you can change your own attitude. I'm sure that you're just giving off a vibe that you don't want to be there."

Mew looked down, "I guess…"

Solgaleo suggested, "Well, then maybe giving off a positive vibe, or just a friendly one, will help the atmosphere a bit better."

Mew let out a sigh. He really _hadn't_ been enjoying his time since he was pretty much forced to be on the show. However, now that he was in charge, he had the chance to do things the way that he wanted. "I guess…"

"Dude, you have two girls that are worried sick about you and helping you with the show. I'm pretty sure that Victini would have just laughed and made your contestants' lives even worse," Solgaleo assumed. "You've got a good thing going on, you just have to realize it, yourself."

Mew was surprised by the Sunne Pokemon's statements, as he thought that somebody with chronic depression would only be interested in moping. As he thought about it, he realized that the large sun emissary was right. He had something good, but he was rejecting it. Mew just stared at the ceiling, wishing that the show would just end so that these feelings would go away.

Suddenly, there was knocking on Solgaleo's door, followed by the caring voice of Xerneas.

"Solgaleo? Are you up?" The fairy-type queried softly.

The lion replied with a sigh, "Yeah, I'm up…"

"And is… Mew up? Is he showing any signs that he's waking up?"

Solgaleo narrowed his eyes at Mew, not wanting to answer for him. Letting out a soft breath, Mew answered, "I'm up…"

Immediately, the door swung open and both Virizion and Xerneas rushed inside. They went over to Mew, who was now sitting up at the edge of Solgaleo's bed. They nuzzled him in greeting, causing Mew to blush slightly.

"Alright, alright guys," the New Species Pokemon insisted, feeling flustered about the affection. The girls ceased their nuzzling, taking a few steps back while holding worried expressions.

"How do you feel?" Virizion queried.

Mew sighed, "I feel stupid, hungry, and a bit tired."

Xerneas smiled softly, "Mew, you don't have a reason to feel stupid. It could have happened to any of us. Just know that we're here for you."

Virizion added, "And stop worrying about what the contestants complain about and just focus on doing the best that you can. Entei brought up a good point that these guys are complaining a _lot_ more than the ones from All-Stars and that _you_ are the host, so you can do and feel however you want since you're the one in charge."

Hearing all of that, in addition to what Solgaleo said earlier, Mew was completely sure that he wanted the series done after this season. He wouldn't have to deal with any of this again. He took a deep breath before floating off of the bed.

Mew sighed, "Okay… Did anything happen while I was incapacitated?"

The girls exchanged looks, with Xerneas explaining, "Well, we got worried when we first found you knocked out cold, so we decided to just have a challenge here."

Virizion continued, "So, the contestants had to deal with doing whatever the others wanted, and Carson got eliminated."

Mew nodded, "Okay, so nothing major. No offense to him."

"You sure you're ready to go back? You can take another day off if you need to," Xerneas urged. "We're just glad that you're okay."

"No, no, if I'm gonna get over all of my issues, I need to face this head on and fulfill what I need to," Mew explained. "Then, once the season's over, I can say fuck it…"

The girls, as well as Solgaleo exchanged looks as Mew floated out of his room. The girls followed him out, leaving the large, white lion alone.

 **000**

Phill's wounds were being tended to by Holly, with Klavier, Summer, and Kojo all sitting around looking at him with expressions that read 'I told you so'.

Wrapping his waist in leaves, Holly shook her head in astonishment, "What made you think jumping off of the cliff would be a good idea in the first place, Phill?"

"I was bored, okay," the Raticate deadpanned. "These guys said it was stupid. Then Klavier left to go talk to you and those two started making out next to me. So, I just nope'd off the cliff."

"Instead of walking back down like a normal person…" Summer countered.

"I didn't think!" Phill huffed, folding his arms. "I didn't even expect there to be that many more rocks down there. It looked like less the last we had a challenge dealing with it."

Kojo suggested, "How about we not jump off of cliffs no matter how many rocks we _think_ are at the bottom?"

They all heard Virizion's voice echo throughout the island, "CONTESTANTS! REPORT TO THE STADIUM FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

Phill sighed as Holly continued helping him with his wounds. "Well, let's hope that this challenge isn't as annoying as the last one."

Summer sighed, "Well we're only dealing with two legendaries this time, unless Mew is better now. Then it's two legendaries and a mythical. So, it shouldn't be that bad."

 **000**

All of the contestants started heading toward the stadium, with Lassie holding a new book entitled, 'Scorned'. Marion, who was walking alongside her, noticed the new book and grew curious. "Where'd you get this new book?"

Lassie explained, turning a page, "I teleported it here from home. It was a present from a friend, but I never got around to reading it."

Seeing the title of the book, Marion wasn't very surprised that she suddenly had the urge to read it. She sighed, "Are you sure that you're not willing to just talk to Fez and try to work things out?"

The Froslass scowled at her. She was finished talking about the situation completely; she didn't like what Fez did and wasn't going to forgive him so easily. The fact that Marion was still pushing it was getting very tiresome. "Why do you keep pushing for me and Fez to get along? No offense, but it's getting annoying."

Marion stopped walking, causing Lassie to stop as well, while the others continued forward. She folded her arms before letting out a closed-mouth breath. Lassie didn't seem to understand that the situation was completely petty. "I just think that this whole situation has been blown out of proportion. He kissed you while he was drunk, and it _was_ inexcusable. He's owned up to his mistake and has apologized numerous times in order to make things right, but you just keep pushing him away as if he murdered someone you love. We're adults, but the way you guys are handling the situation is childish."

Lassie glowered at the Banette, "I'm done talking about the situation, Marion. Maybe have a little respect for that and stop trying to force me to like him."

The Froslass continued floating toward the stadium, leaving the Banette alone. Marion sighed before continuing toward the stadium as well, a crestfallen expression etched on her face.

 **-000-**

Eventually, as she entered the stadium, all eyes were focused on the hosts, which included Virizion, Xerneas, and most surprising of all, Mew. Behind them, there were two large sheets covering two large figures.

The pink feline took a breath, "Well, greetings competitors. My apologies for my uh… Um…" My self-induced mini-coma. I was going through a rough spot mentally, and was slowly losing my mind. But, I'm feel a little bit better, so hopefully I won't go through it again."

The contestants exchanged looks of concern, with Shine speaking up. "Mew, if you're feeling stressed or _sick_ in that way, why don't you just take a longer break? It doesn't make sense to keep going if you're just gonna end up hurting yourself internally."

Aura nodded, "Yeah. Victini typically leaves in the middle of seasons now, so why don't you just take a break? Virizion and Xerneas are still here."

There were some murmurs of agreement among the final twenty-two, as well as a few eye rolls, as they didn't care about the pink feline's well-being considered everything that _they_ had to go through.

Mew was surprised by the support, and smiled softly. However, he shook his head as his smile transformed into a small frown. He let out a sigh. "It's fine. It was my own fault for only focusing on the negativity and letting it eat me alive. I'll be fine. Now, for today's challenge."

Xerneas cleared her throat, "Today, you guys will be competing in a challenge inspired by an old show that was, admittedly, mediocre."

Virizion queried. "Anyone remember the show Blow and Build?"

The contestants immediately exchanged looks upon hearing that name. It was faintly familiar to some, while others were simply confused.

Xerneas giggled to herself, "Well, judging by the looks on your faces, I can say that you guys don't remember anything about the show, which is perfectly fine because, like Virizion said, it was pretty mediocre."

Summer was confused as she heard this. Folding her arms, she asked, "If the show's so mediocre, why are you guys basing a challenge off of it?"

Mew decided to answer, as it was partially his idea. His reasoning was very simple. "While the show itself is mediocre, I felt like the concept was pretty interesting."

Aspen stifled a laugh. "Well, with a name like 'Blow and Build', I'm pretty sure any guy would find that show's concept interesting."

The guys threw the Furfrou a dismissive look, as they felt that she was calling them shallow. Mew, wanting to move things along a bit, decided to go ahead and explain the challenge.

"As the girls explained before, these challenges are based on the show 'Blow and Build'. The premise of the show is that teams each destroy objects in order to build a vehicle of sorts that will ultimately help them complete the main challenge. Often, they do mid-challenges that allow the winners to screw with the progress of the other team. In the end, they do the main challenge, and whichever team is able to complete the task the fastest wins," Mew explained.

The contestants were confused about the premise. What were _they_ going to be using? How would it even work?

Taylor voiced these concerns immediately. "I'm sorry, but I don't see how that will even work. If we're using wreckage, won't that mean that whatever parts we use _won't_ be useful?"

Virizion replied, "That depends on what you guys will be required to build. And it just so happens that you don't really require specific parts to _work_ work. Plus, it's a chance for you guys to get creative."

Xerneas added her input, "And you guys will have your work stations, plus a few extra things that Zahku will throw into the mix. So, it won't be as impossible as some of you may believe."

 **000**

 **Phill groaned, "Great. Construction work… Just what I wanted to do…"**

 **000**

Mew began speaking again, giving a further explanation of their challenge. "Now, I'm sure that you guys are wondering what you will be building. You girls wanna tell them or do you want me to?"

Xerneas cleared her throat, "You guys will be building… Battering Rams!"

The contestants exchanged looks of interest and unsurety upon hearing that. They didn't really know what to think, but it was still their challenge, so they were going to have to deal with it.

Mew continued. "So, I'm sure that you guys are wondering what you'll be destroying in order to get the parts for your battering ram… And the answer is…"

Zahku, who suddenly appeared between the two covered items. He yanked a pair of ropes that he held in his large hands, removing the coverings. Two large sheds were revealed. They were both already rather disheveled, with the doors not being visible. Inside of each of the sheds were numerous materials, including, but not limited to, wood, tires, empty pots, a tool box, and sheet metal.

The contestants were unimpressed by the sheds, but some shrugged nonchalantly, while others just looked on with bored eyes.

Anthony scoffed, " _Wow_ , these look like they'll _totally_ help us."

Mew insisted with a sigh, "They can and will. They each have enough material for you to build whatever you want, or in this case, _need_."

Amethyst nodded, "Uh huh… And what is our main challenge, exactly? You mentioned before that the show this is based off of had some kind of task?"

Virizion explained, "That will be revealed once building ceases. Now, in order of this being a destruction-based challenge, we've decided to bring back a familiar face that will be aiding in the wreckage."

Xerneas nodded in agreement, "Please give a warm welcome to… Rex!"

Taylor and Ace both paled as an earthquake suddenly shook the island to its very core. A few moments later, a large figure burst from the ground beside the hosts, startling the others, who covered their faces to avoid the sand that flew in their direction. It was large, metallic snake with a huge grin plastered on his face.

The Steelix screeched in greeting. "MWAHAHAHA! I'M READY FOR THE DESTRUCTION!"

The final twenty-two were astonished and confused, as most of them had no idea who Rex was or what his deal was. However, what they _did_ know was that this was one of Taylor's exes. The Milotic twitched as he glowered at the hosts.

The Tender Pokemon growled, "Out of _everyone_ you could have brought back for this challenge, you bring back _him_?!"

Hearing the voice, Rex immediately froze. He had actually been watching the show for a bit, mainly for the pain and suffering, and because he felt that he should have been brought back for this season. He also saw that Taylor was growing and had essentially moved on, so he was feeling especially awkward.

"Uh… Hey there, Tay," he greeted sheepishly.

Taylor shot him a death glare, but the Steelix continued smiling, unaffected by the glare.

Xerneas sighed, "Yes Taylor, we're aware of you guys' _history_ , but we brought him back because, out of everyone that's competed on the show thus far, he's the one with the greatest fixation with getting hurt and causing destruction."

Virizion added, "And he's the largest of you all, so it makes things even easier."

Taylor groaned, as Connor nudged him with his nose, giving him a stern look. While he didn't really care for Rex, it was pretty obvious that the guy wasn't interested in talking about their explicit past. Upon receiving the look, Taylor's glare softened and he looked down at the ground with a sigh.

Mew cleared his throat, getting everyone's eyes back on him, as well as getting Rex's attention. "Alright Rex, go ahead and start wrecking those sheds," the pink feline said, pointing to the two buildings.

Immediately, Rex's eyes glimmered and he began cackling before zooming toward the sheds. Due to the sheds being on two opposite sides, Rex had to make two trips so all of the wreckage wouldn't intermingle.

Barreling through the buildings, pieces of wood, and other materials flew into the air before landing back on the ground. The Steelix went back and forth two more times, flinging more of the material around for a while.

Once the Iron Snake Pokemon was finished, he returned to the hosts' side. The contestants were left dumbfounded; the masochistic destroyer had damaged a good portion of what they had to use.

Kojo exclaimed, "What the heck are we supposed to do with that?!"

"It's all part of the challenge," Mew responded calmly. "Now, go on and get started. And the battering rams _must_ be mobile for the challenge, so just go for it."

The contestants grumbled as they separated and headed to their respective sides. Of course, they were all very agitated and confused as to how they were even going to construct a battering ram out of what little Rex had left behind.

 **000**

As they approached the wreckage, the Loser Lugias let out groans and sighs of unsurety. All that they had remaining on their side was a bunch of wood, a space heater, a gas tank, parts of a sofa chair, a couple of tires, and steel bars.

Shine hummed as she looked over to the planning table sitting near the wreck. She gazed back over at the material before letting out a sigh. "Okay, we need to figure out our best plan of action here."

She began walking through the remnants of the shed, looking around. "I think we have decent enough supplies that we can use to make the battering ram."

Taylor, looking over the wreckage, scoffed, "How do you figure that? All I see is useless junk."

Ashton hummed, "Well, we actually have to _build_ the battering ram, so it's not really that hard to see. Though, I'm unsure if any of us have construction expertise."

Taylor responded with an exclamation, "Most of us don't even have functioning limbs for this! I'm sorry, but I don't see us doing do well with this."

Sola narrowed her eyes at him before deadpanning, "Maybe instead of complaining before anything is done, you let us try to figure something out?"

Taylor glowered at the Absol before letting out a huff and looking down. Connor nudged him once again, with the Milotic grumbling to himself.

Morgan looked over the wreckage, moving wood and steel beams out of the way. She hummed, "I think we need to make a diagram of what we want the battering ram to look like first. Then we can think about what we need to take from here."

Kojo let out a soft breath as he looked over at the planning station left for them. Unlike Shine, he actually approached the table and spread a fair amount of paper across the table. He grabbed one of the pencils and folded his arms.

Holly and Amethyst joined him over by the station, with Holly landing on edge of the table. "Do you have an ideas?" the Swoobat queried.

Kojo hummed, as a few of the others on the team began gathering around him as well. He was a bit unnerved by the sudden swarm, but he responded. "No, I'm just thinking about what we can do. What all do we have over there that's actually intact?"

Sally and Ace walked back over to the wreckage and inspected the materials. Ace started moving the wood around to reveal possible materials underneath. Moving a few pieces of wood, Sally uncovered a blue cooler amongst everything else.

Seeing this, Sally and Ace each rose their brow. Sally explained, "Well, there's a cooler over here. We have the few tires around here."

Ace nudged the overturned, blue chair before using his ribbons to flip it back over, revealing a gas tank. The Sylveon hummed, "This sofa chair is still decent. And there's a gas tank here, too."

Sally walked back out of the wreckage with Ace in tow, "And then there's just the wood and steel that's around here in general."

Kojo purred in thought before being struck with an idea. He began sketching on the large sheet of paper. "Alright, my art skills aren't that great, so bear with me."

The Mienshao immediately drew four circles, followed by a rectangle. He drew a pyramid, connecting the endpoints of the rectangle. He then drew something long across the top, with a circle surrounding it. He put down the pencil and scratched his head. "Well, it's not the best, but I think it conveys what my idea is."

Taylor eyed the drawing before narrowing his eyes at the ermine. "So, you want to build a rolling pyramid with a thing on top? That's your idea?"

Sola retorted, "I don't hear _you_ coming up with anything. Plus, he didn't even explain himself." She turned back toward Kojo.

Kojo explained his picture, "Basically, we tie or glue a bunch of wood or other hard materials together, place it in a holder and make sure it stays stable, but also allows it to move it back and forth."

Morgan reasoned, "And we can have someone pull it and push it forcefully without having to carry it. Good thinking!"

Amethyst expressed, "Alright, so we need the wheels, metal, wood, and… Likely something that'll go on the end of the battering ram that'll provide extra force."

Taylor decided to add his own input, suggesting, "Well, Connor is good with force. Maybe we can just have him be the one to slam into the ram."

Hearing that idea, Connor smiled a bit. At least the Milotic was actually giving the team an idea. Though, being that he was mentioned, he was a bit unsure. "Well, I guess I wouldn't really mind…"

Shine took a deep breath and sighed, "Alright, we've got a plan and a diagram. We've just gotta build it now."

Amethyst posed a question in response. "Wait, with what tools?"

Ashton went back over to the wreckage, looking over the wood and metal. She hummed, "I would believe that a toolbox would be somewhere in a shed."

Sally responded, following her, "There _should_ be one somewhere in this mess, but for all we know it's probably somewhere else by now."

"Well let's keep looking until we find them. If we don't, we'll have to get some from Mew," Morgan explained.

 **000**

Phill whistled as he walked around the wreckage of the shed. "Alright, so that Rex guy completely demolished this place. How the hell are we supposed to build anything with this junk?"

Summer picked up a few pieces of wood, tossing them to the side with a grunt. She wanted to see what all was left behind after Rex's 'rampage'. Many of the objects were no longer in plain sight, being scattered about.

The only things that were left in plain sight were the sofa chair, gas tank, tires, and a tool box. She continued to move bits and pieces of the wreckage around, while the others simply watched on.

Marie reasoned. "Okay, we need to build a battering ram, so we basically need anything that we can move back and forth, and something hard that can go at the end."

Aura reminded them about the specifics, "Apparently it has to be mobile, too, so we need wheels and a frame."

An idea came into Fez's mind that'd save them a bunch of time. "Why can't we just have Titan tie a bunch of wood together with a thread and just use _it_? It'll save us a bunch of time and we can just get this challenge over with."

Hearing that idea from him, Lassie gave him a look of annoyance. "Seriously, after all these years we've spent in this shitty game, you still don't get that they want us to actually work hard and not look for shortcuts all the time?"

Klavier rose a brow at her response, as he remembered how the hosts sometimes reacted to shortcuts. "Wait, I thought that they encouraged us using shortcuts at times. As long as they don't say that it's forbidden, at least."

Phill nodded in agreement, "Yeah. And they didn't say that it was forbidden. Now that I think about it, that's not even taking a shortcut. That's just a regular idea."

Lassie scoffed, "More like a _lazy_ idea. We need to actually try, not just bundle everything together and call it a day!"

Hearing that, Summer nodded in agreement as she moved numerous pieces of wood out of the way in order to continue uncovering what was there. "I'm with Lassie on this one. That sounds too simple."

Marie nodded, also agreeing with the Snow Land Pokemon. "Yeah, we need to _think_ about how we're going to go about actually building this thing."

Fez immediately groaned to himself as Lassie flashed him a sneer. Marion noticed the look on her face and simply shook her head. Now she was just _intentionally_ egging it on. She hoped that the Froslass would be more mature about it, but apparently she was wrong.

Anthony yawned as he popped his back. He grunted before clearing his throat. "Alright, where's that damn planning station? If we're gonna do this dumb battering ram, we might as well get a move on…"

The Blastoise moved over to the planning station. Just as he picked up a pencil, Marie's hand reached out to grab his arm. She gave him a stern look, suspicious of what he was going to do.

She asked seriously, "And just what are you planning on drawing? We have to consult everyone before we even think about making a design."

The Blastoise gave her a look before looking back at the other members of their team. "Hey, do any of you have any objections to me making a possible design for the battering ram?"

There was a moment of silence among the rest of the team, as they simply shrugged or exchanged looks. Seeing this, Anthony smirked at Marie, who rolled her eyes. "Alright then-"

Lassie suddenly spoke up, "And how exactly would _you_ know how to make the battering ram?"

Anthony shrugged, "I used to be fascinated with medieval devices like catapults, the torture devices, battering rams, and the like. So, I think I would remember how it looks."

Anthony began sketching on the large sheet of paper while explaining his idea to the team. "Okay, so I'm thinking that we use the wood and iron to fashion a long wood block. Then, we find something hard to go at the end that won't break upon impact."

The picture he drew, while explaining his plan, consisted of just a simple, long block of wood with a pyramid at one of the ends. There was a circle around it, along with an arrow that pointed to the words 'Hard and Stable End'.

Aura hummed, "That's all well and good, but we still need it to be mobile. What are we gonna do, just glue the tires to the side?"

Titan chimed in, "And I think that we need a axle for the wheels to even work correctly."

Summer picked up a large, flat piece of wood with a bit of dust and dirt on it. Inspecting it, she hummed, "Hmm… Maybe we can put the battering ram on this wood and just attach the wheels to it that way. That way it'll be mobile."

Phill rose a brow, "Uh… Doesn't that look a little too flimsy? What if the battering ram ends up being too heavy?"

Anthony shrugged, "It seems fine to me. As long as the job gets done. Now, let's get to work."

 **000**

A few members of the Loser Lugias were trying to find the toolbox, while others were either sitting back watching, or getting certain items together. Connor and Taylor were among the few sitting back and simply watching, as Connor would be used later on, and Taylor lacked the appendages.

Of course, Taylor had other things going through his head at the moment, such as when Holly was going to talk to Kojo and get him to help _their_ side as opposed to Morgan's side. At the moment, the bat was just helping Amethyst and Ashton look for the toolbox while the others gathered what they needed.

Seeing the look of thought on his face, Connor rose a brow. "You okay, Tay?"

The Milotic hummed questioningly, looking down beside him. "Oh, uh… Yeah, I'm fine, baby. Just thinking about how this is gonna go…"

Connor chuckled in response. "Well, it can only go one of two ways. Either we win this and don't worry about it right now. Or we lose this and prioritize it after the challenge."

Taylor smiled softly as he slowly coiled around him with a pleased sigh. "I guess you're right, but I prefer that we go ahead and get it out of the way, just so we know that his allegiance and loyalty is with us and not them."

Connor hummed, "You know… I was kinda thinking about this myself. And it may sound like a bad idea, but maybe we should just get rid of Kojo."

Taylor's eyes widened in surprise; he wasn't expecting to hear that from the Bouffalant. As he looked over to the others to see if they were paying any attention to them, he slowly slithered back a bit, gesturing to Connor to do the same.

Once they were a bit further away, Taylor expressed his disbelief. "Babe, what are you saying? Kojo is our ticket to eliminating the others! Why would we want to eliminate _him_?"

Connor sighed, "Think about it. He has his fiancée _and_ best friends on the other team, and Summer likely has a few others friends on their team. Compare that to our team; the only connection he has is Holly. If he makes it to the merge, he'll be able to take all of us out, and Holly may end up siding with _her_ boyfriend, adding to their little group."

Taylor was in shock, and a bit skeptical, about how much info his boyfriend had, but continued to listen to him. "That means that he'd have about five or so people together in the merge while _we_ slowly dwindle in number. He's not aligned with anyone on our team because he's aligned with the _other_ team. If we can eliminate him, not only does it actually even the playing field on our team, it prevents a massive alliance from happening if his friends end up making it to the merge."

The Milotic's eyes glimmered and he stared at Connor in silence and awe. Connor noticed the Tender Pokemon's look and grew worried. He sighed, "Well, like I said, it sounds like a bad idea, but-"

Connor was cut off when Taylor's lips suddenly smashed against his. Taylor broke the kiss with a devious smirk. "I love you so much… That is the best idea I've ever heard."

Connor was surprised, "Really? You think so?"

Taylor giggled as he coiled around the Bouffalant once more. "Oh, most definitely… And if Holly is able to convince him to vote with us, it makes it even easier for us. He votes for whoever we say, but we vote for him, instead, and…"

Connor cut him off with a chuckle, "I don't mean immediately, babe. There's still an equal number on each side. We'd need to eliminate one of the others first, with his help, and _then_ we'd be able to eliminate him if we lost another challenge."

Taylor stared at him once again, before purring, "If we win this, you are so getting laid tonight…"

Connor blushed almost immediately before beginning to stammer. "Uh… I… You…"

Taylor giggled once again before silencing him with another brief kiss.

 **000**

" **Connor just came up with a plan that'll take care of** _ **three**_ **problems we'll have in the merge!" Taylor cheered. "We take out one of the 'family and friend' group, making them weaker. Eliminating Kojo will upset Summer, which will make her a bigger threat in the merge, knowing her anger issues. And it'll also prevent him from getting together with all of his little pals and forming an alliance bigger than ours!"**

" **He is going to get a huge treat tonight…"**

 **000**

" **It wasn't that hard to think about, to be honest," Connor explained. "I was going along with their plan just because it seemed like it'd work fine. But, then I started thinking about the long term and how he has a lot of connections to the other team, and I started getting a bit worried."**

" **I don't even know if eliminating him will change anything. I just think it'll be our best course of action once he helps us eliminate one of the others."**

 **000**

As Kojo picked up a few pieces of metal that he found scattered about the ground, he hummed to himself. He was thinking about his and Summer's future together and how things were possibly going to go in the game down the line.

While he did this, Ace hummed to himself while watching him. He turned to the girls, who were still gathering wood and attempting to figure out what other objects would work well for the battering ram. "I think we should go ahead and try to talk to him."

Morgan looked over to the Mienshao and narrowed her eyes at him. She hummed, "The question is which of us is going to actually be the one to talk to him?"

Sola took a breath before stretching, "I'll do it. You guys keep working…"

The others watched as the Absol walked over to the Martial Arts Pokemon. They weren't really doing anything major besides gathering wood, and the battering ram wouldn't really take that long to create in their eyes. So, they decided to watch and wait for the response.

 **-000-**

Sola approached the Mienshao as he looked over the metal that he had procured from the wreckage. His back was turned, but the reflection from the metal let him know she was approaching. He didn't turn to face her, wanting to focus on the challenge. He was actually expecting this to happen, but didn't expect it to be _during_ the challenge.

She greeted him with a smirk, "Hey Kojo…"

Despite his focus on, he still greeted her as he started laying out the metal like an outline for how the battering ram was going to be built. "Hey…"

Seeing that he wasn't turning to face her, a look of 'really?' formed on her face. "Uh… Can we talk?"

"Okay, go ahead," Kojo said with a sigh as he got to his feet. He started walking away, though, confusing Sola a bit. However, she began talking anyway.

She cleared her throat. "Well, as you may already know. Morgan, Shine, Ace, Sally, and I are in an alliance."

Kojo nodded, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure everyone on the team knows already."

Sola gave him a look, but continued. "Well, given who we have left on the team, and their lack of actual capabilities, we think that it'd be beneficial for you to help us out."

Kojo gave her a look upon hearing that. "And… Why would it be so beneficial to help _you_ guys and not the others, exactly?"

The Absol was already feeling annoyed by the actor's responses. "Kojo. I'm just offering you a place in our alliance. Take it or leave it."

Kojo, not really liking her rather abrasive tone, rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it…"

Sola's eyes tightening into a glare as she moved away from the Mienshao and headed back to the others.

 **-000-**

Seeing her return with a disgruntled expression, the others could guess that it didn't go so well. She grumbled to herself, "Well, he said he'd think about it, but I don't think he'll be willing to help…"

Shine rose a brow at her assumption, "What makes you say that?"

Sally posed an additional question to the Absol, "And why are you so upset if he pretty much said maybe?"

Sola huffed, "Because he had some kind of attitude or something; he didn't even really look at me while I tried to make our case. Then he started asking _why_ he should help us instead of the others, and that's when I just got frustrated and came back over after he answered."

Morgan rose a brow. Kojo wasn't usually one to act in that manner; there had to be something more to what she said. "Well, what exactly did you say?"

Sola rolled her eyes with a sigh, "I told him that it'd be beneficial for him to work with us."

Shine sighed, shaking her head. "Well, that explains it. You made it sound like if he didn't join us, he was going to be in trouble. Plus, he's the odd man out on the team since he's the only one without a group. He probably doesn't think that we should be doing the 'the others are bad, join us' thing."

Ace sighed, "Plus, now that I think about it, we _are_ kind of in the middle of a challenge. Maybe we _should_ have waited."

Morgan let out a breath. "Okay, let's just focus on the challenge for now and worry about the situation later. Now, I'm pretty sure a battering ram is just a single wooden beam, log, or a fat length of metal. That should be easy to assemble or at least try to."

The others started picking up more wood and steel in order to form a formidable battering ram.

 **000**

 **Sola sighed, "Well, lately I've been feeling a bit more ticked off, so I guess it's my fault I got upset and Kojo said that he'd 'think about it'. Hopefully we either win this or he actually decides to help us…"**

 **000**

The members of the Ho-Ohs each had a specific task that they were assigned, despite the battering ram not fully requiring all hands on deck.

Aura and Aspen conversed as they looked over the wreckage. They were told to find wheels that'd be used for the battering ram, as Aura was the one who reminded them of the mobility factor. At the moment, the two were talking about the game and what strategies they could use, as well as a few other activities.

Kicking the wood to and fro, Aspen giggled to herself, "I'm so glad that I'm not a major target in this game. Being middle-ground is the best thing to be."

Aura shrugged with a slight nod. "To some degrees, I suppose. Being middle ground mostly means just doing enough to get by while not being totally lazy and not being too pushy. And, as of late, I think we have a good chance of making it to the merge."

Aspen nodded, "So do I. Everyone seems to have some sort of issue or connection, so we don't really get noticed. Well, other than by certain assholes who bring us up in order to deflect..."

Aura nodded once again before noticing a tire sticking out from underneath a pile of metal and wood. "And there's a tire. Nice."

Aspen went forward to retrieve it, as Aura stared at her behind for a few moments before shaking her head and following suit. Aspen used her nose her to lift up the few pieces of debris, allowing the shiny Glaceon to move it.

It was a bit heavy, but she was able to get it up and start rolling it, only for it to fall flat once again. "Nice work, Aura."

The Fresh Snow Pokemon giggled, "Thanks, hon. So, we were talking about the merge?"

Aspen hummed in confusion. "Yeah, what about it?"

Aura gazed over to the others on their team. "Well, I think that we should attempt to make some other allies or at least make some sort of alliance when and if we get there."

Aspen was a bit surprised by that idea, as she wasn't sure if Aura would even be interested in working in others, and vice-versa. "Well, shouldn't we wait until we actually see who else makes it? There's a chance that we might not even make it further if one of these guys is able to convince a good amount of the others."

Aura shrugged in response. "We can still hope and prepare, can't we? It couldn't hurt."

Aspen hummed in response. "I guess not…"

Aura hip checked her with a smirk, "Atta girl." She lied down next to the tire, with Aspen doing the same, before beginning to talk about the possibilities.

 **-000-**

Meanwhile, Phill and Klavier were messing around with a few pieces of wood, with Phill lackadaiscally banging two pieces of wood together and Klavier looking over the broken pieces with a hammer is in claw.

Phill sighed, "This challenge blows… I hate construction."

Klavier gave him a look, "If you keep up _that_ attitude, the others will just vote you out for not being any help. You don't have to like it, but just being helpful goes a long way."

Phill huffed. "Hmph, tell that to those two," he said, gesturing to Aspen and Aura, who were talking to each other, facing away from the others. A tire was next to them, and the others were working on assembling axles and foundation for their battering ram. "Though, I admit, this view of them is pretty attractive."

Klavier gave him a look. "Really dude?"

Phill shrugged. "My point still stands. If they think about voting for me, I can just point out the fact that their reasoning can go to literally anyone else that's not contributing much of anything."

Klavier hummed. "Why don't we just get the tire from them and help the others. Maybe we can even try to talk to them and try to become friends."

Phill gave him a look, "And why would we want to do that? We barely even talked to them before and we have no reason to. Plus, aren't you the one who's usually shy and unsure?"

Klavier fiddled with his claws. "Well, I just started thinking… Maybe if we have more allies on the team, other than Summer, we can save ourselves from elimination in a greater way. We know that they don't want to be eliminated either-"

"None of us do." Phill deadpanned, interrupting the Gliscor's statement.

Klavier gave him a look, before continuing, "-and they usually get mentioned by others who don't do much, too. So, maybe if we join forces for a while, we can ensure that we make it further in the game."

Phill hummed, unsure about whether it was truly a good idea or not. Sure, he found both girls attractive, but he was unsure about their attitudes and work ethic. Though, his work ethic wasn't anything special himself, so he couldn't really judge them. In addition, the thought of working with cute girls who could help him make it further in the game seemed like a blessing. He let out a sigh. "Okay, fine. We'll try to be in an alliance with them."

Klavier nodded, "Come on, they're a bit away from everyone else, so this should be kinda simple."

The Raticate huffed, "Yeah, as long as no one looks over to see what we're doing." On the way toward the two girls, the Mouse Pokemon accidentally stepped on a nail, causing him to scream while keeping his mouth closed. He hopped in place before flopping on the ground.

"Klavier!" he shouted loud enough for the Gliscor to hear. The Fang Scorpion Pokemon turned around and his eyes widened as he approached him.

Klavier sighed and shook his head, "You seriously got hurt _again_ today?"

Phill growled, "Don't do that. Can you just get this stupid nail out?! I don't want an infection!"

Klavier grabbed hold of the nail in the Raticate's foot, his pincer grabbing the head perfectly. He yanked it out swiftly, causing Phill to scream in his mouth once again. Klavier tossed the nail away as Phill sat up, rubbing his foot in pain. "Ugh… I hope that thing wasn't rusty…"

Klavier responded with a sigh, "Hopefully not. Come on, let's-" The Gliscor had turned back around and noticed that a familiar shiny Glaceon and Furfrou were in front of him. He jerked back in surprise, not even noticing or hearing the girls approach. He stammered, "Oh, uh… H-Hey girls…"

Aura giggled, "Hey boys. Uh… By any chance, would you two like to-"

Phill finished the question for her, while still clutching his foot. "-form an alliance since we can all be called out for poor effort and it's annoying? Sure. That's what we were coming over to _you two_ for."

Aspen and Aura exchanged looks of shock, not expecting that quick response. Aspen responded, "Oh, well… Good. You guys have connections to Summer and Kojo, so this'll be very good for us."

Aura nodded in agreement, "Right now, we're thinking that we should take out Fez or Lassie. Maybe even both."

Klavier rose a brow at this. He didn't mind it, as he didn't talk to either _that_ much, but he was still curious as to what their reasoning was. "Any particular reason why?"

Aspen answered. "Because, honestly, their petty feud is annoying as fuck. They also fit in the same category as us, being rather useless despite having useful capabilities. Taking out Lassie means that Aura and Marion can stay and show _their_ strengths, and getting rid of Fez allows _you_ to show _your_ strength."

Klavier nodded along in understanding. Meanwhile, Phill posed a question. "Okay, now you mention Marion, but she's not a target, too? She's just as useless as the rest of us. Basically, the only ones on the team that are doing a bunch of good work are Anthony, Marie, Summer, and Titan, on occasion. The rest of us are just fodder waiting for our time to go."

Aura blinked in response, tilting her head in confusion. "Huh… I don't remember you being so pessimistic."

Phill gave her a look, "I'm just trying to think realistic. I would suggest taking out the big threats now, but if we lose them, there's a chance that, well… We're all fucked before the merge. Plus, Summer's our best friend's girlfriend, so we can't do that to him."

Aspen hummed in thought, as Phill mentioned something reasonable. "And do you have any history or issue with eliminating Marie and Anthony?"

"I just said that we'd be fucked," Phill responded. "Anthony is the brains and somewhat brawn, and Marie is practically the team leader. If we lost them, we'd keep losing players until we hit the merge, and then we'll be destroyed by the people left on the other team."

Aspen hissed upon hearing that reasoning. "Okay, so those three can stay for a while longer."

Klavier spoke, "We already have the people that we can eliminate: Marion, Fez, and Lassie. Let's just stick with that for now and continue as we go forward in the game."

Aura and Aspen nodded in agreement, while Phill shrugged. Aura let out a sigh, "So, can you guys give us a hand with that tire?"

Phill twitched before clearing his throat. "Oh, uh… Sorry, foot just got stabbed with a nail and it stings like a bitch, so… Klavi, looks like that's mostly you."

The Gliscor gave his friend a look of annoyance.

 **000**

 **Aura giggled, "Awesome, now we have the biggest alliance on the team. Hmm, but we probably won't have enough votes considering how the others on the team may think."**

" **I guess Phill and Klavier can relay ideas to Summer. Aspen and I thought about recruiting Marion or Titan, but Marion just seems… Uninterested and Titan is too… Unpredictable, I guess. He's usually always around Cramad and Annie. Alone… I'm not sure about how he is."**

" **This'll just be temporary anyway," the Glaceon reasoned. "If we all make it to the merge after this,** _ **maybe**_ **we'll consider keeping it going."**

 **000**

Marion sighed as she watched Anthony hammer a couple of wooden boards together to form a frame. She sat upon the sofa chair, resting her head on her hand. Titan, who was dragging a long beam of wood and steel completely surrounded by yellow thread, walked by. Noticing her distraught attitude, he rose a brow. "You doin' okay, there? You're looking down under."

The Banette sighed in response. "I just… I don't know what to do anymore."

Titan blinked before looking around, "Well, you can start by gathering more wood…"

Marion gave him a look, "Not _that_. Just… In the game in general. Dhaunt's gone. Lassie and Fez are being immature, the team is separated into fodder and leaders… It's just… It's all so frustrating."

Titan wasn't one for these kinds of conversations, so he remained silent for a while. But, eventually, he let out a sigh. "Well, uh… If you're feeling this much stress and frustration… I don't really know what to tell you. Uh… Just… Do what you think is best for you, I guess."

The Galvantula walked away, dragging the long custom beam along with him. Marion sighed, shaking her head as she looked over and saw Lassie just sitting against a steel rack reading her book. Looking on another side, she saw Fez struggling to fly with another tire in his grasp.

She sighed. "Well… At least Fez is being productive."

 **-000-**

Titan finally approached Anthony, Marie, and Summer, who were all working on the main parts of the battering ram while conversing about the game, as well as Anthony and Marie's 'situation'.

Anthony wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead as he finished the flat bottom part of their ram. "Well, this part's done. Now we just need to get the wheels and build up a bigger frame for the actual beam…"

Marie rose a brow, "Wait, I thought that we just needed the wheels and beam and that's it?"

The Blastoise shook his head. "I did some rethinking, and I remembered that some battering rams rely on being hung up and swung toward whatever it's trying to break. So, we need a few 'arches' and string so that the beam can be swung."

Summer let out a sigh, holding her head. "Well, Titan has a beam made _and_ we can just use his thread to have it swing. So, we should be set once we have the 'arches' ready. In the meantime, should we have a discussion about you guys' little _situation_?"

The couple gave the badger a look before glancing over to Titan, who was still standing there, interested. Noticing how their eyes went to him, the Galvantula reassured them. "Oh, mates, don't mind me. Please continue."

Marie huffed, "If anything, we should be talking about you and Kojo." A small smirk formed on her lips as Anthony sneered.

This response caused Summer to blush and narrow her eyes at the Big Jaw Pokemon. She folded her arms. "There's nothing to talk about. We're not getting married anytime soon; we're getting serious when we're out of this game; hell, he still needs to get rid of that cheating bitch."

Anthony, grabbing another piece of wood, smirked, "Speaking of that cheating bitch… What would you do if she said that she wasn't going to leave Kojo alone?"

Summer rose a brow, "Oh, I'd rip that floatation sac off of her body in an instant."

Anthony chuckled, "Perfect response."

The Typhlosion shrugged, "That bitch deserves it. Kojo's a great guy and he doesn't deserve what he gets from her."

Titan decided to insert himself into the conversation. "Well, this is probably none of my business, but is there any irrefutable proof about… Whatever this girl has possibly done? I mean, actors and singers are known to lie or exaggerate about stories to make themselves look better or to slander someone else. For all we know, Kojo could be a lying Kookaburra."

Anthony and Marie exchanged looks, for two possible reasons. Reason one was that it was plausible, and reason two was that Summer was probably about to tear Titan a new one. This was evident by the glare she was giving the EleSpider Pokemon.

She let out a harsh breath. "What reason would Adam have to lie?" she asked sternly, referring to Kojo by his real name. "Just because he's an actor doesn't mean he's automatically going to be a liar or exaggerator. Hell, Phill has known him for fucking years and can _confirm_ everything that the bitch did. So maybe you should keep your little pedipalps out of our conversation."

Titan sighed, rolling his eyes. "Alright, no troubles… Just my opinion."

Summer tightened her glare at him before walking away.

 **000**

" **I don't appreciate it when people start throwing around accusations about me, my friends, and** _ **especially**_ **my boyfriend. Titan might have just made my list…" Summer growled.**

 **000**

 **Titan shrugged, "What? It's a reasonable thing to assume. He tells us about this shit, but he has no proof of it, so why should we automatically assume that he's being truthful?"**

" **Plus, the three of them are major threats. Anthony and Marie are dating, so they have each other. Right now, Summer seems to be the easiest to pester since Kojo is on the other team. He's her weakness. So, if he gets taken out, she gets weaker emotionally. It's a common theme** **on this show anyway…"**

" **I know I said I take care of those working with me, but pretty soon we're gonna be working against each other, so why not initiate a few issues a bit early?"**

 **000**

Amethyst, Ashton, and Holly had glanced over to Kojo when they noticed Sola approach him and saw that the others in her alliance were watching intently.

The Amaura growled to herself. "Those dirty little…"

Ashton sighed in defeat. "Great, he's probably gonna help them now. We're screwed."

Holly rose a brow at their negativity. Sure, they asked Kojo first, but who's to say that he was actually going to be of service to them? Judging by the way Sola went back to them, the Mienshao probably declined. "Guys, for all we know, Kojo could have said 'No'. Let's not sell ourselves short, okay?"

Amethyst and Ashton exchanged looks before Amethyst let out a breath. "Okay, fine. But, let's actually wait until we're done with this challenge."

Holly nodded in affirmation. "That's fine. Now, let's get this toolbox to Kojo so he can actually get our battering ram together." She flew up, holding onto their toolbox with her feet.

They started heading over to Kojo so that their team could actually begin making progress. The Swoobat handed over the toolbox, much to the Mienshao's relief.

He groaned, " _Finally_. Now we can actually get some work done around here."

 **000**

Both teams worked diligently on their battering rams, with each team having their main workers, the watchers, and the ones distracting themselves.

At the moment, for the Lugias, Kojo, Shine, and Morgan were the main ones working on the battering ram. Holly, Ashton, Amethyst, Sola, and Sally were giving support by giving advice on what should go where.

Ace, who was bored and uninterested in the construction, sighed. He gazed over at Taylor and Connor, who were snuggling together a bit away from everyone else, but still watching the team. An idea sprung in his head.

 **000**

 **Ace explained, "Taylor and I are pretty 'acquainted' with each other at this point. We were on the same season before this one, he admitted his sexuality and shared his confusion with me, and I've comforted him a few times when we grew worried about Connor."**

" **Maybe I can convince him and Connor to help us out for a couple of votes…"**

 **000**

The Sylveon rose up, sauntering over to the couple. Connor noticed him approaching and nudged Taylor gently. The Milotic turned his head and rose a brow as the Sylveon stood before them for a few moments before lying down. "Hi guys," he greeted. "Uh… How're things working out for you two so far?"

Taylor chortled, kissing Connor's cheek. "How do you think? If anyone else tries to lay a hand on him, they're dead."

Ace chuckled with an understanding nod. He was the say way about Chase and vice-versa. Before he could speak again, he heard Taylor speak again. "Now, we all know that you're not here for idle chit-chat. What do you want?"

Ace, not one to stall, just sighed at being figured out so soon. "Okay, look. I know that you guys don't exactly get along well with the others in my alliance, but please. We need you guys' votes."

Connor narrowed his eyes at the Intertwining Pokemon. "Uh-huh… And what happens when we help you and then it comes down to us? Hmm?"

Ace could only look awkwardly to his side in response. Connor and Taylor exchanged looks before narrowing their eyes back at the Sylveon. He let out another sigh, "I understand if you're not willing to risk. But, please… Just consider it."

Taylor spoke up, "Do you mind giving us a reason as to why we should even help you?"

Ace gave him a look, "Taylor, we competed in the same season, you trusted me enough to talk to me about your confusion and you admitted to _me_ that you were gay. I even helped you calm down a few times when you were freaking out about Connor. So, sorry if that's not good enough for you."

Taylor's look softened as he watched the Sylveon walk away. The Milotic let out a sigh as Connor nudged him once again, "Tay, it's okay. He's just trying to guilt you into voting with them. If we buy into him, there's no doubt that we'd be gone after we help them out."

The Tender Pokemon sighed. "I guess you're right."

Connor sighed, "Well, sometimes I wish I wasn't."

Taylor planted a kiss on his lips. "It's okay. You're just being realistic. Let's just hope that things go our way."

 **000**

Mew, Virizion, and Xerneas were outside of the stadium, back on the beach. Colton and Tyson were setting down numerous pads. There were ten pillars assembled in a circle with a large cylindrical device in the middle with a long arm stretching from it.

Colton huffed as he wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead, "Alright, I think this is set. You need anything else?" he asked as Tyson approached him from behind, resting his head on his shoulder.

Xerneas nodded, "Yeah, go with Zahku and help him prepare for the final challenge."

Tyson groaned, "But I'm still tired. Colton kept me up all night…"

The Dragonite gave him a look, "You know you loved it…"

Virizion rolled her eyes. "That doesn't matter. Just go help Zahku."

Colton grabbed hold of Tyson's hand as he walked to where the Zahku was. Mew looked over the device that had just been prepared and let out a breath. "Well, this should be good enough for the mid-challenge."

Xerneas nodded in agreement, "They shouldn't have anything to complain about this time around. This challenge is pretty straightforward and relatively short."

Virizion scoffed, "And if they _do_ complain. They'll just have to deal with it."

Mew nodded before clearing his throat. "Well, let's get back and let them know about the challenge."

The three of them began heading back to the stadium, with Mew letting out a soft yawn on the way, which the Grassland Pokemon took note of. She giggled, "Still feeling a bit tired, Mew?"

The New Species Pokemon sighed in response. "I'd rather not talk about it anymore, thanks."

The girls exchanged looks, but nodded in understanding. At the same time, they each kissed one of Mew's cheeks, causing him to blush. He grumbled to himself, making the girls giggle at his reaction.

 **-000-**

They reached the stadium once again, entering it as everyone continued working. Mew brought out both a bullhorn and an airhorn. Ear muffs appeared on each of their heads as Mew pressed the air horn into the bullhorn, creating a loud, blaring sound that caused most of the contestants to cover their ears and look back at them.

Sola growled. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

The hosts removed their ear muffs, ignoring the glares they were getting from the competitors. Virizion explained, "Alright, it's time for the mid-challenge. So, we're gonna need five participants from each team."

Summer rose a brow, "Only five?"

Xerneas nodded affirmatively. "Yep, so go ahead and choose so that we can get on with the show. The rest of you can continue working until we get back."

Both teams exchanged looks.

 **-000-**

"Okay, so we're still working," Anthony started, folding his arms as he gestured to the crude-looking battering ram. "So, the rest of you are gonna have to choose amongst yourselves."

Aura spoke up, an idea entered in her room. "Aspen and I will go. And… Phill, Klavier, and Marion can, too."

Marion rose a brow, "Uh… Why me?"

Marie responded, folding her arms. "Why not?" she asked, confused as to why she was questioning it.

The Banette opened her mouth momentarily, but closed it upon realizing that there was no point in doing so. She sighed. "Nevermind…"

 **-000-**

Morgan let out a sigh, as Kojo and Sally continued trying to work on the ram. "Alright, we need five of us to go with them and _hopefully_ win this challenge."

Shine nodded, "Yeah, but the issue lies in that we don't even know what the challenge _is_."

Amethyst chimed in, "That shouldn't really matter. Let's just choose and get on with it."

Sola gave her a look, "Okay. In that case, why don't _you_ , Ashton, Holly, Connor, and Taylor go? Make yourselves a bit more useful."

Connor spoke up in response. "Taylor doesn't have limbs. How the hell is he supposed to help if he's lacking in that part? Why don't _you_ go instead? You're not doing anything 'useful'."

Sola glowered at the Bouffalant, and was about to respond, but was stopped by Morgan. The Persian took a breath, "Well, he has a point, there. We aren't doing anything either."

The Absol looked at her in surprise, "Seriously? There's five of them. What does it matter if he doesn't have limbs? He can float, and he's used those long eyebrows of his to grab things before."

Seeing this as an opportunity, Amethyst posed a question. "Why are you so desperate to not do anything? Seriously, you guys always complain about _us_ and volunteer _us_ to do challenges, while you just sit back on your high pedestals and bitch about how we never do anything. _You guys_ are the ones who don't do anything. You're all talk and barely any execution. Morgan and Shine are the ones actually giving instructions and encouragement, while you just bitch and moan about everything. Maybe you _are_ like your brothers."

Hearing that, Sola stepped forward threateningly, her eyes tightening in a glare. "Fuck… You…"

The Absol started walking away from the group, causing most of them to turn their heads. Despite what just happened, Ace cleared his throat. "Uh… I can take Taylor's place if we're still against him going…"

Shine nodded. "That's fine, Ace. Just, be careful."

Ace nodded in understanding.

 **000**

The ten chosen competitors walked toward the three hosts. Nodding, Mew let out another yawn before stating, "Alright, the ten of you, follow us to the beach."

Confused, the participants exchanged looks before deciding to do as the pink feline said. They followed him, Virizion, and Xerneas out of the stadium and toward the beach.

In doing so, the ten contestants eventually came upon the contraption that was set up for them. Seeing what the challenge was, the participants exchanged looks of confusion, as it didn't seem to have any correlation to their main challenge.

Virizion began explaining the process and how the challenge was going to go. "Alright, this challenge is pretty straightforward. Each of you will be placed on one of the pedestals; your goal is to jump over that swinging arm as it rotates repeatedly, trying to sweep you off of your feet."

Xerneas added, "The last player standing wins it for their team, and they will be able to damage the other team's battering ram in order to hinder their progress."

Raising a brow, Ashton asked, "Wait, so is it only one round?"

Mew responded, "We're not gonna hold you guys for that long, especially since we don't know how much stamina each of you have. The challenge could take a measly five or six minutes, or ten-to-fifteen depending on who the final players are."

Nodding in agreement, Virizion instructed, "So, go ahead and take your places on whatever pedestal you want so we can get started."

The ten players hesitantly obliged, each of them getting on top of one of the pedestals. The pedestals were rather unstable and wobbly, making it difficult for some of the players to even stand up on them properly.

Ashton huffed as her pedestal shifted as she moved, "Well, this certainly makes things a bit more difficult."

"And we're supposed to _jump_ over this thing as if moves?" Phill queried for assurance.

The hosts exchanged looks, with Mew responding, "Well, you can duck, if you're able to. As long as you don't fall off, you're fine."

Xerneas brought up another point. "Oh, and I know what some of you may be thinking, and no, you can't use moves to knock each other off. It _has_ to be the arm and you can't stay down the entire time. You have to stand back up after it goes past you."

The Grassland Pokemon, ready to begin, began asking the players about their readiness. "Alright, are you guys already?"

Klavier mentioned. "Not really…"

Virizion responded, "Well, sorry. The challenge begins now."

Mew pressed a button, turning on the contraption in the middle of the players. The outstretched arm began to move clockwise slowly. Clockwise, the players on the pedestals were: Ace, Connor, Phill, Klavier, Aura, Aspen, Ashton, Holly, Amethyst, and Marion.

The arm began its rotation. Ace jumped over it with relative ease, while Connor struggled to jump high enough due to his weight. Phill dropped down before having to rise back up, his platform shifting as he did so. Klavier used his tail to jump up, clearing the arm. Aura leapt over it with relative ease, as did Aspen. Like Connor, Ashton had a bit of difficulty jumping high enough, but was able to do so. Holly just ducked down, figuring that since she could fly, they wouldn't allow her to 'jump'. Amethyst jumped decently, and Marion was able to jump easily as well.

With everyone scaling it the first go-round, the arm began to pick up the speed. The process continued, with everyone being able to clear the arm once again.

The third go-round, the arm moved even faster. Ace nearly fumbled, but was able to jump up once again. Connor found himself falling over, as he was unable to jump high enough. Phill groaned as he ducked once again. Klavier jumped up once again, as did Aura, followed by Aspen. Like Connor, Ashton was unable to jump in time, resulting in her landing on the pads on the floor. Holly ducked once again as the arm passed over her. Amethyst jumped over it, but upon landing once again, her platform buckled a bit, nearly causing her to fall over.

Marion jumped over it again with ease, as the arm began moving even faster. Ace yipped and jumped over it swiftly, while Phill was clipped as he was ducking down, sending him off of the platform.

Phill grunted boredly, "Damn it!"

Klavier was able to jump again, but his tail got clipped a bit. However, he was still okay. Aura jumped up and over it, however, Aspen jumped too early, resulting in her falling off of her platform. Holly ducked once again, with the arm passing over her. It managed to strike Amethyst just as she was about to jump, sending her off of the platform.

She growled to herself. "Come on, Holly! You and Ace can do this!"

Once Marion cleared the arm again, it immediately picked up speed. Ace jumped over the arm quickly, getting nervous given how fast it was now moving. Klavier's anxiety got the best of him, causing him to jump too early and get clipped by the arm, sending him off of his platform. Aura, distracted by Klavier's fall, was eventually swept off as well.

She hit the ground in frustration before getting back up and looking at Marion. "Come on Marion!"

The arm passed over Holly once again as Marion leapt up. Her platform buckled a bit, nearly causing her to fall over. Ace swallowed in nervousness as the arm swiftly went by him again. He jumped up over it, letting out a sigh of relief.

"You got this, guys!" Amethyst cheered.

As the arm went over Holly's head again, Marion fumbled and ended up getting knocked off of her platform.

The other four Ho-Ohs groaned. "No!"

Mew nodded as he turned off the arm. "And the Lugias win!" he announced.

Ace and Holly exchanged looks before cheering.

Virizion relayed their reward to them. "That means that you guys will be able to hinder the process of the Ho-Ohs. So, let's get back to the stadium so that we can continue the game."

Ace and Holly hopped off of their platforms before joining the group. As they proceeded to walk back to the stadium, Klavier noticed that Marion wasn't with them. Turning back around, he saw that she was still just sitting against the platform that she fell off of. He nudged the others before gesturing to her.

Aspen rose a brow, "What's wrong with her?"

Phill shrugged. "Eh, she probably thinks that it's gonna be all her fault if we lose, which is only partially true."

The shiny Glaceon rolled her eyes at the Mouse Pokemon's response. "Come on. She at least lasted longer than the rest of us. She doesn't need to be upset."

Marion sighed to herself as she sat against the platform "Well, I've once again screwed something up today. Just what I needed, more dismay and anxiety."

She saw her teammates approaching and got back onto her feet. She dusted herself off and popped her back. "Sorry, guys…" she said immediately. "The platform-"

Aura interrupted her. "It's fine Marion. The platforms were purposely made to be unstable to trip everyone up. Plus, you actually participated, unlike certain others. So, you have nothing to apologize for."

A small smile formed on the Banette's face. "Thanks…"

Phill sighed, "Well, let's go see how far behind those guys set us…"

Klavier responded, "Well, hopefully it's not that bad…"

 **000**

"Arceus, damn it…" the Gliscor deadpanned as a barrage of stones ripped through the Ho-Ohs' battering ram, damaging the wood, disconnecting the threads, knocking the wood out of place… It was like they barely started working on it.

Mew sighed, "Alright, you guys have forty more minutes to build before you participate in the final challenge. Ho-Ohs, you guys might want to work fast and hard to make up for the lost progress."

The Ho-Ohs glared at the hosts, as they already knew what they'd have to do. The hosts retreated, as the Lugias passed on smug smirks to the Ho-Ohs before going back to their own battering ram.

Once they were out of range, Anthony growled, glaring at those who participated in the challenge. "What the hell happened?!"

Hearing the anger in his voice, Phill rolled his eyes. "Calm down, geez. The challenge was easy, yet difficult."

Marie folded her arms, "And… What does that mean? What did you guys have to do?"

Aura explained, "We had to stand on shaky platforms and jump when a long arm tries to sweep us off. It was tiring, and a bit dumb."

Anthony facepalmed with a sigh. "Whatever. Let's just fucking… Fix this…"

Lassie rolled her eyes at his behavior. "Uh… It's not even that big of a deal. Just redo the threads, re-screw the wheels, and put the wood back to the right places. You act like it's the end of the world."

Summer gave her a look, "Lassie, you haven't even been doing anything useful for this challenge. You've just been sitting there reading that dumb book. So, you don't get to comment on how he feels."

Lassie folded her arms with a huff, "Whatever you say, Mrs. Side Piece."

Hearing that, Summer's eyes widened before she tightened them in a glare toward the Froslass. "What did you just say?"

Lassie hummed, "Oh nothing, just relishing in the fact that you're willfully fucking over an established relationship with no remorse. And the fact that you've agreed to marry a guy who hasn't even broken up with his current girlfriend and who you've only _just_ started talking to for nearly a month."

Summer growled, clenching her fists as her neck flared up. "For your information, bitch, that fucking slut has been cheating on him for fucking _years_ with no remorse. He hadn't dumped her ass because she had connections that could ruin his fucking career. And we've all known each other for over a decade! Just because we've just now started communicating regularly doesn't make all of our history irrelevant!"

Lassie yawned. "Excuses. If _Adam_ actually had balls, he'd have taken his lumps instead of just flying into the arms of any female that'd give him the light of day."

Summer snarled before using Fire Blast. Lassie dodged it with ease as Marie had to grab hold of Summer to prevent her from continuing.

Anthony sighed. "Great…"

Fez huffed, "Summer, don't worry about what this salty bitch says. She's just upset that _her_ marriage has failed, so she's taking it out on anyone who makes mistakes or has a relationship that _she_ thinks is bad."

Lassie glowered at him. "Nearly half all of the fucking relationships that started on this show are bad! Someone either cheats, neglects the spouse, or has mental issues that harm them. The surviving ones either just thrive on sex or have an actual deep connection, but that's rare."

"And you prove my point," Fez deadpanned. "Maybe you should stop reading those dumb books. They're rotting what's left of your brain."

"Moron! You fucking prove my point since you cheated on Sabrina!" Fez remained silent after that, causing Lassie to nod. "Exactly what I thought. Most of you guys are so fucking pathetic."

Anthony groaned, "Okay, can you save your little rant for _after_ the challenge is done? The fact of the matter is that we're getting behind, you've done fuck all to help, and you're just projecting bullshit that only you care about. So either shut up and help, or shut up and go back to doing nothing."

Lassie glared at him. However, knowing that saying something would probably get her on Marie's bad side, she decided against it. Out of everyone left on the team, she only really talked to Marion, and she only respected Marie. Plus, since the Feraligatr was practically the leader, if she wanted, she could convince the others to get rid of her.

She took a breath. "Whatever," she said, floating away from the group.

Once she was away from the rest of them, Summer pulled away from Marie, still glaring daggers at Lassie. "Fucking bitch…"

Aura shrugged. "Meh, I admit that she has a bit of a point. Most of the relationships that form on this show have issues. There are probably under ten that have no issues at all."

"But that's their own personal business," Klavier spoke up.

"Can we focus on the challenge, please?!" Anthony exclaimed, growing more and more annoyed at the situation. "Jeez, we've spent nearly five minutes talking about this pointless shit."

He began working on the battering ram once again, turning away from the others. Marie rose a brow at his sudden agitation. Usually he was more nonchalant and sarcastic.

As the others scattered, the Feraligatr crouched down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You alright? You're usually not that stern."

Anthony sighed. "We lost three challenges in a row before Carson got eliminated on the other team. I'm not trying to go on another losing streak. So Lassie doing jack shit, and then complaining about shit that isn't relevant is just fucking annoying. We're the only ones actually working on this damn thing. They haven't even asked if they could help with anything. Sure, they just did a challenge, but look what the results got us…"

Marie kissed his cheek. "Tony, at least they're helping. Now, I can get behind you with regards to Lassie. We kept her around to actually help, but Marion and Aura have been doing more as of late. And Fez hasn't really been doing much either."

"Oh, what a coincidence. The two useless annoyances on the team that have issues with each other. Perfect," Anthony deadpanned.

Marie nodded. "Yeah… And that means that we may be able to eliminate one of them if we lose this."

Anthony shrugged, with Marie draping over him and kissing his cheek again.

 **000**

"Wow, this looks pretty good, Kojo," Sola commented as Kojo sat against the finished battering ram.

"Thanks," he deadpanned, panting softly from exhaustion.

The battering ram looked nearly identical to the Mienshao's sketch. The steel and wood were set in a way that allowed the ram itself to be situated safely on it; it was also able to slide back and forth without toppling over.

Taylor rose a brow. "So, what do we do now? Just wait for them to call time?"

Connor shrugged, "Looks like it."

Kojo panted softly "I'm just glad… That you guys didn't… Screw up the last challenge. I'm sure that I'd choke slam one of you, or punch the ground and walls if all of this work got fucked up."

Ashton deadpanned, "Well, _that's_ good to know."

Amethyst smacked her lips. "What do we do now? Sitting here and doing nothing sure isn't helping the cause."

Sola huffed, still annoyed at her from earlier. "And neither is you talking about it."

The Tundra Pokemon glowered at her before simply walking away from the group. Ashton and Holly exchanged looks before following her as well.

Shine sighed, turning to her sister-in-law. "Sola, egging on the feud isn't going to make it any better. They said that we have forty minutes left, so let's just _not argue_ and be civil."

Taylor deadpanned, "Okay, wife of Satan, and what do you suppose we do in the meantime?"

Ignoring the comment, the Sun Pokemon gave the Milotic a dismissive look. "It doesn't matter to me what you do, so long as you're not hurting anyone or screwing up our chances."

Taylor rolled his eyes before slithering away from the group, with Connor following behind him shortly after. Ace hummed as he watched them leave.

Sally rose a brow, "What's up, Ace?"

The Sylveon responded, "Nothing, nothing. Just… Thinking."

Morgan sighed as she lied down, "Well, don't be afraid to share. At this point of the game, any and all ideas are welcome."

Ace grunted, "Well, I was thinking about the fact that Taylor and I are pretty decently acquainted with each other. I tried to convince him and Connor to help us, but then they started talking about how they'd be the next ones gone after we got their help, so they practically said no."

Sola huffed, "Well, there goes our possible help. Now we _have_ to rely on Kojo."

Due to the fact that they were still sitting around the battering ram itself, Kojo was able to hear this and deadpanned. "I'm still right here..."

Sally sighed, "Will you _please_ help us?"

Kojo groaned, resting his head against the device. "I said I'd think about it, did I not?"

Shine begrudgingly let out a sigh. "Guys, let's not pester him about it. He gave us an answer, and we just have to accept it. Plus, we don't even know what happens in the event of a tie, so who knows what could really happen?"

Sola groaned, "Knowing this show, they'll either send both people home or make us battle or something. That's why we need a deciding vote."

Shine countered, "Well pressuring him isn't going to make him eager now is it?"

Sola rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"

Feeling the need to change the subject, Morgan cleared her throat before looking to Kojo. "So, Kojo, uh… What's the plan once you and Summer tie the knot? You plan on having any kids?"

Kojo shrugged, "Probably so. An actual family sounds like a good deal, after all."

Shine chuckled. "Oh, it is. Though, with your status, you may try to keep them out of the limelight."

The Mienshao chuckled, "Yeah. My and Summer's kids would be our own business. Though I doubt people would care that much after I dump Floatzelle."

Ace decided to hop into the conversation, "I still don't get how she can cheat on whoever she wants and get no repercussions. But, if someone dumps her, _they_ get shat on."

Kojo sighed, "I don't know either, but that's been the case with guys that dated her before."

Sola rose a brow. "Then why even date her in the first place? Sounds like that was your own fault."

The Mienshao glowered at the Absol. "You really think that if I knew that off the bat, I'd have anything to do with her?"

Sally sighed, "Well, as long as you and Summer end up happy together, that doesn't matter. If people are too dense to see that bitch, Floatzelle, for who she truly is, then that's their own ignorance shining through."

Kojo nodded. "Yeah, I know. But ignorance is a major part of the world, so, it doesn't really matter what I think of them."

 **000**

Marion, a bit perturbed by her actions earlier, approached Lassie with folded arms. Seeing her approach, Lassie rolled her eyes, looking at her book. "What do you want, Marion?"

The Banette responded, annoyed that she didn't see what was wrong with what she had said, "How the hell could you say that to Summer?"

Lassie rose a brow, "What? You mean tell her the truth? Seriously, if Kojo was _really_ facing issues in that relationship, he would have manned up, left the bitch, and took whatever so-called repercussions came his way. There have been plenty of celebrities who've had partners that cheated and ended up getting shat on. But guess what? After a few weeks, another scandal comes out involving a different celebrity and the attention is off of them."

Marion was about to reply, but the Froslass continued. "And even then, that doesn't negate the fact that now _he_ is cheating on _her_ with Summer. And Summer _is_ now just the side chick who gets all of his love and attention. Therefore, he is no better than the bitch he's complaining about. Seriously, he's just a hypocrite."

Hearing that, Marion understood her points and where she was coming from, but not only did it not matter, but it had nothing to do with her, so why was she suddenly talking trash about people's relationships? The Banette groaned, "Okay, that's all well and good, but what does it have to do with the challenge? Why does it matter to you? They love each other, so why is it such a big deal to you?"

Lassie deadpanned, "So you believe love and marriage are completely reasonable within a month?"

Marion responded, "They're adults. They can do whatever they want. Again, why bring this up, anyway? Why is it such a big deal that you had to bring it up just because Summer called you out?"

"Because she didn't need to," Lassie responded. "The challenge was getting done. Denying me of an opinion just because I didn't 'do anything' is stupid."

The Marionette Pokemon scoffed, "So you decided to trash talk about her and, by extension, numerous other people's relationships that started because of this show in retaliation? That's not really fair."

Lassie closed her book, setting it to the side before folding her arms and continuing to look forward. "Marion, list the relationships that have started because of this show that haven't had any issues due to those involved?"

Marion groaned in annoyance. "Lassie, none of this matters! This just started because Summer said that you shouldn't complain about something you didn't help with! We should just focus on the challenge and actually _support_ -"

Lassie interrupted her, "Do it and I'll stop talking about it. I'm just trying to prove my point; I've been holding back these feelings for a long time based on what I've been seeing. I just need to get them out. So, come on. Off the top of your head, tell me all of the relationships that have stood the test of time without any outside scandals or problems?"

Marion sighed, facepalming. However, if this was the way to get Lassie to get over it, then she'd play her little game. "Uh… Okay… Um… Lila and Jesse, Shade and Shine, Morgan and Hex… Me and Dhaunt, Titan and Cramad, Krack and Smash, uh… Skore and Piff, Emilia and Ded, Demenio and Sola, Amethyst and Sven, Ashton and Raiden, Jet and Sally, Nate and Aylesha, Chelsea and Static, I think, and Summer and Kojo… Uh… That's all I can really remember based on who's still here and just based on my memory."

Lassie cleared her throat, preparing to break down all of the relationships that she saw fit. "Okay, both Lila and Jesse are mostly just sex-driven, so there's hardly real love there. Shade has serious mental issues that make him unfit to handle any kind of relationship or job, so that relationship is automatically bad. Both Ded and Emilia were just on rebounds, so their relationship is iffy at best. Demenio has the same problem has Shade; plus, he's made out with Ricky on several occasions anyway. Amethyst and Sven haven't even consummated their so called relationship, so who cares?"

"Hold on, how does that-"

Lassie continued, "Krack and Smash just got together impulsively from what I can recall from All-Stars. Chelsea and Static is just the typical 'loser tries to score girl out his league' story, so it's nothing special. I've already let you know about Summer and Kojo. Jet had the Aylesha situation since he didn't tell Sally about her. Nate is half-demonic and wants to rape and murder, putting Aylesha _and_ their kid in constant danger, and the other ones either happened too fast or don't have any kind of dynamic. No offense…"

Marion just stared at her blankly before shaking her head. "So, you just think that no one here is truly in love with anyone? They're in bad relationships because you say so?"

Lassie shrugged, "Hey, that's just how I see it. Take it as you will."

Marion gave her a look, "You sure that you aren't just being nitpicky and judgmental because you and Egridos are getting a divorce? Plus, those books that you've been reading lately are all about drama and cheating, so you're just overanalyzing everyone if they don't have the typical relationships? Everyone's different and love works differently, too. It's not always going to be peaches and cream, Lassie! Everyone's relationship is special is some way, shape, or form. Those novels of yours aren't guides to how things _should_ be, they're just fiction."

The Froslass rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say." She picked up her book and went back to reading, making Marion groan and walk away.

 **000**

" **Okay, at this point, I don't care if Lassie gets eliminated. Sure, she's my friend, or at least** _ **sort of**_ **, but her attitude towards Fez and just towards everyone in general since her and Egridos' breakup is just awful," Marion stated.**

" **And even if some of her points make sense, what does it matter? Who is she, or** _ **anyone**_ **for that matter, to say that people's relationships are awful? We're all different and behave differently. Just because people don't act the way you** _ **think**_ **they should or the way you** _ **want**_ **them to act, it doesn't make you right."**

 **000**

 **Lassie shrugged, "Hey, I spoke my mind. All of the relationships from this show are shallow or based on something dumb. And sure, I may be wrong about a good majority of the ones she listed, but there have been** _ **way**_ **more scandals and toxicity than there have been pleasant relationships. Vixen's kissing spree and suicide attempt, Archie's psychotic breaks, Otto's utter insane obsession, Nero cheating, Mason using Vile, Aura raping Ricky and Shade, Ray abusing Aura, Sky dumping Archie and going to his abuser, even if it was for a 'little while', Solis trying to ruin Jesse and Lila's relationships… I could go on and on, but I don't want to be in here for too long."**

 **-000-**

Aura, Aspen, Klavier, and Phill watched as Marion walked away from Lassie. Phill smacked his lips. "Well, Lassie's making enemies at a quick rate."

Aura nodded, "Yep. And that's perfect. She rose a couple of good points, but she should realize by now that pestering or speaking ill of people on the team is grounds for elimination. Annie and Cramad were prime examples. They were all quiet and just going along with the game, plus, they were useless anyway."

Aspen giggled, "Steadily complaining doesn't really help, _especially_ if you don't do anything to help the team. I don't get why the most useless, unimpactful players decide to start talking smack and pestering everyone with their opinions instead of just staying quiet like they've been doing."

Klavier shrugged, "Maybe it's because they wanted to stop doing that. I mean, it was Annie and Cramad… No one really bothered or cared that much for them or what they thought because they usually just went along with everything others said. They tried to become headstrong and share what they think should happen or be done, and they got eliminated for it."

Phill chuckled, "Wow, that sounds fucked up. You stay in the background and just do everything people tell you to do, but you get eliminated for having your own ideas."

Aspen shrugged, "That's just life. It's fucked up, but if you don't agree with the majority, you're isolated. You'd think that a show like this wouldn't have _that_ kind of reality, but more of a cartoony vibe, but eh."

"ALRIGHT PLAYERS! BUILDING TIME IS OVER! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR FINAL CHALLENGE!"

"Oh, looks like it's time to see what happens," Aura said as she rose to her feet.

 **000**

All of the contestants watched as Zahku, as well as Colton and Tyson, pushed two large pyramids into the stadium. Each pyramid was nine feet tall and very wide. Eventually, both of the structures were situated in front of the contestants.

Tyson and Colton panted heavily, while Zahku simply dusted his hands off.

Xerneas nodded, "Alright, thank you."

Mew cleared his throat, "Now, this challenge is once again rather short and sweet. In front of you are large pyramids. Using your battering rams, you must break down the doors, retrieve the treasure chest that is inside, and open it out here. The first team to do that wins."

Summer facepalmed, "So… You made us make these damn rams… Just so we can knock down _one door_?"

"It was still a challenge," Mew shrugged. "Now. You guys have your challenge, so go ahead and get your battering rams into position and I'll count you guys down."

Kojo pushed their battering ram towards the door before sliding the pole itself back. Anthony, on the other hand, pushed their battering ram toward the door and just left it alone.

Mew nodded. "Alright, you can begin in three… Two… One… GO!"

Anthony began raising the back of the battering ram so that it would swing forward and crash into the sturdy door. It left a dent, initially, but the Blastoise kept at it, while the others cheered.

Connor moved back far enough before charging forward at full speed, sending the beam into the door with a lot of force. "Come on, babe, you got this!"

Anthony continued slamming the wood into the door, as Connor backed up once again. The Ho-Ohs' door was beginning to break free of its hinges, while the Lugias' simply looked dented from the force Connor exerted. The Bouffalant charged forward again, thrusting the wood into the door once more. The door looked ready to topple over.

Meanwhile, the Ho-Ohs were nearly in the door. Anthony continued to slam the pole into the door. However, it appeared that the impact was actually causing the damage from before to resurface, as one of the wheels fell off.

"What the hell?" Anthony queried as he gazed down at the bottom of the battering ram.

Connor charged into the wood a third time, slamming it into the door, popping it out of frame. The Lugias cheered before Morgan rushed inside.

"Anthony! The wheel doesn't matter! You're fucking us!" Lassie exclaimed.

"Shut up!" he exclaimed as he started using the ram again. However, it was too late, as Morgan returned from the pyramid, pushing the chest out.

Immediately, Kojo used Brick Break, destroying the chest.

Mew nodded, "And the Lugias win!"

The Lugias immediately started cheering, while the Ho-Ohs groaned in annoyance. "Fuck sake, Anthony!" Fez groaned. "Why'd you stop to look at the wheel?!"

Anthony clenched his fists, glaring daggers at both the Unfezant and the Froslass. He started walking away from the group in annoyance. Marie let out a sigh as she watched him go.

Virizion soon spoke up, "Well, Ho-Ohs, we'll be seeing you guys at elimination."

The team exchanged looks.

 **000**

At the elimination ceremony, the Horrible Ho-Ohs were exchanging displeased expressions. Soon enough, Mew approached with Virizion and Xerneas in tow. The New Species Pokemon let out a sigh. "Alright, Ho-Ohs, let's get this started. You all should know the drill by now. When we call your name, Mew will toss you a marshmallow," Virizion explained.

Xerneas began, "Anthony… Marie… Summer… Titan."

The four of them got their marshmallows, with Anthony begrudgingly handing it to Marie.

"Phill, Klavier, Aura, and Aspen, you guys are safe as well," Virizion added. The four of them caught their marshmallows with smirks.

Marion, Fez, and Lassie were the only ones remaining. Marion let out a sigh, while Fez and Lassie only glared at each other.

"Well, this isn't that surprising," Virizion commented. "Lassie and Fez, both of you are pretty much seen as annoying and useless by your team. And Marion… Hmm… I'm not really sure, but then again, you're safe."

Marion nodded as she was tossed her marshmallow.

"Now, this is a rather peculiar situation, as both Fez and Lassie garnered an equal number of votes," Xerneas explained.

"Wait, what?!" Lassie exclaimed.

Fez groaned, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me…"

Summer queried, "So… What does that mean? Do they have to battle or do another challenge or something?"

Mew shook his head. "No. Since there are eleven of you, and one person didn't vote for either of them. It's on that person. Either they can choose to change their vote, or _both_ of them get eliminated."

Everyone's eyes widened immediately as they exchanged looks.

Aspen spoke up. "Okay, and who was the one who didn't vote for either of them?"

Mew gestured to the Banette sitting beside Phill. "That'd be Marion."

The Marionette Pokemon paled as all eyes fell to her. "Uh…"

Virizion posed the question to the Banette. "Well Marion, it's up to you. Are you gonna change your vote, or are you going to let _both_ of them go?"

Marion stammered before looking at her two 'friends'. She saw a confident smirk appear on Lassie's face in an instant, while Fez just had a pleading expression on his face. She saw the others urging her to vote for Lassie and others wanting Fez. Eventually, she couldn't take it.

The Banette rose up, "I… I'm sorry, I can't do this."

She rushed back toward the cabins, leaving both Lassie and Fez dumbfounded. The two glared at each other, as they couldn't really blame her.

Mew sighed, "Well. If she's not gonna change her vote, that means that both of you will be leaving."

Lassie shrugged her shoulders, "Typical. Instead of actually challenging my points and continuing at it, you vote me out. Eh, fine by me. Least I won't have to deal with this shit anymore."

She started floating away, while Fez just rolled his eyes. "Can I just know why half of you decided to vote me out _now_?" he asked. "Lassie was practically calling all of us loveless saps, and I actually tried helping out in the challenge."

"By bringing a single tire," Aura deadpanned. "Plus, we still haven't forgotten that you didn't even try in the singing challenge."

The Unfezant only let out a sigh. "I guess that's fair enough…"

 **000**

Lassie was already inside of the elimination device, eager to leave the island. "Can we just get this over with?"

Mew, without a word, obliged just as Fez landed on the dock. Lassie was dropped and sucked away through the tube, making Fez groan. "Dang it! You couldn't have waited for a few moments?"

Mew shrugged, "Sorry. At least it's your turn, now."

The Unfezant scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Splendid, " he dryly replied as he headed into the elimination device.

Once inside, he sighed as he looked down. "Mother of Arceus, that's a long drop."

Virizion nodded, "Yep. Hit it."

Mew pressed the button once again, dropping the bird down the tube as well. His squawking scream was heard before it slowly vanished.

Both hostesses looked down at Mew. Xerneas nudged him. "So, how does it feel to be back, Mew?"

The pink feline let out a sigh before just shrugging. "It's not bad. And now we're at the final twenty, so it should be over in a while."

Virizion nodded, "Yep, and you can take a while to recuperate again."

Mew sighed, "Hopefully."

 **000**

 **And like that, we're down to the final twenty. I'm sure that no one is going to miss the two of them. Now maybe things will be less annoying. Anyways, I wonder what'll happen next, and I'm sure that whoever is still reading this somehow is wondering, too. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Underdogs! See ya guys, BYE!**


End file.
